It figures that my first real post on my shiny grown-up blog is about Pokémon.

I’ll bore you with the details of my Pokémon addiction in a later post, because right now I’m too excited for Gen 8. UK-inspired region! Cute starters! Dynamax battles! Riding bikes over water! Knife dog! Old lady professor! The Galar region’s hottest club is Pokémon Sword/Shield, and it has everything (maybe literally, with the introduction of Pokémon Home, a cloud-based storage service, coming soon to the Switch).

The announcement of the games earlier this year revealed the starters, Scorbunny, Grookey, and Sobble (my personal pick), and I’m glad the Pokémon revealed this past week are showcasing how charming the eighth generation of Pokémon games is going to be. Wooloo, a sheep Pokémon, is a precious fluff that took the internet by storm, but I’m more excited about Drednaw, a vicious spin on snapping turtles (bitey turtle bois FTW). Corviknight, a stately callback to the Tower of London’s ravens, is a shoe-in for appealing to the goth (and gothic) sensibilities of the Pokémon fanbase. As for the first evolutionary line we’re shown, Gossifleur and Eldegoss, they seem like standard Grass types, nothing too outlandish. I’m looking forward to more Pokémon friends being revealed in the coming months, especially the starter evolutions (prayer circle for Scorbunny, please no more fire/fighting starters, GameFreak).

Dynamax, the latest battle gimmick after Gen 6’s Mega Evolution and Gen 7’s Z-Moves, is a chance to battle maximum-sized kaiju and live out your deepest Pacific Rim/Godzilla fantasies. As a battle format, I’m not all that excited about it; I’d be more enthusiastic if Mega Evolution stacked with it, but that’s unlikely. The idea of Max Raid battles is slightly more interesting, especially with the multiplayer option that’s fresh to the Pokémon core system of games, and it’s nice to see Gen 8 incorporating elements of other Pokémon products, in this instance raid battles from Pokémon Go. The open-world portion of the map, the Wilds, looks like it’s taking on the overworld wild Pokémon feature of the Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee games, which is exciting (though poses an interesting challenge for Nuzlocke players; that’s a subculture in the Pokémon fandom I’m going to be keeping my eye on, with all the changes coming in Gen 8). I’m a little sorry to see the RotomDex returning, after the nightmare of the Roto Lotto in the Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon games (very nearly killed my love of Rotom as a Pokémon), but supposedly the Rotom Phone can fuse with your bike and make riding your bike on the surface of bodies of water possible, which is very cool and a major upgrade. Gen 7 was the first generation to do away with the need for HMs, necessary moves to get around since Gen 1 like Fly and Surf; it’s cool to see them continuing the trend of not needing to plan a team around those moves anymore, and doing it in such a unique way.

As for the legendaries, Zacian and Zamazenta, I’m pleased to see that they’re not only wolves, as was hinted in the logos revealed for Sword and Shield earlier this year, but that they literally wield a sword and a shield, respectively. No details yet about what makes them unique from each other aside from their choices in weaponry, but so far Zacian is pulling ahead in public favor with its Knife Dog aesthetic (in my favor, too, what an image). If I had to guess, Zacian probably has the higher attack and speed, while Zamazenta has the defense and special defense. Not too difficult a leap, given their aesthetics.

My hopes for Gen 8, as always, include new Eeveelutions (pleeeeease, GameFreak?), but besides that, I’m excited to see what kinds of European-inspired Pokémon we’ll be getting this time around. I’d love to see a set of Pokémon taking after traditional fairy tales, or some Eastern European horror-themed creatures. Predicting the dual-typing of the starters is a traditional part of the Pokémon waiting game, and my thoughts are this: Scorbunny should be Fire/Electric; Grookey should be Grass/Psychic; Sobble should be Water/Dragon. Each generation of games has a Normal-type rodent, an Electric-type rodent, a Normal-type bird, a caterpillar Bug line, and a cat and dog somewhere in its early Pokédex; my hopes are for a corgi-inspired dog line, since the Galar region is taking its cues from England and a homage to the Queen’s dogs would be fun. And maybe a caterpillar line that turns into a fluffy moth at the end (no, Dustox, Venemoth, Mothim, and Volcarona DON’T count).

There will be more to come in the months leading up to Pokémon SwSh’s November 15 release date, and likely another post of my incoherent fangirl babblings (or two or three). Until the game is finally in my grubby hands, I’ll be waiting with great impatience (though not as much impatience as I have waiting for the Gen 4 game remakes, WHERE ARE THEY NINTENDO).