After waiting for years, the patience of Pokémon GO players is finally getting rewarded with the addition of Galar starters. The adorable and popular trio of Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble debuted during the GO All Out event.
These three iconic species boast not just widespread usage in battles, but also excellent lore and design. And, that’s exactly the premise of this article as we will delve into the intricacies of these Pokémon and their evolutions. Let’s begin!
The Grookey Family
Apes use tools like sticks or even rocks as a display of dominance. In fact, Thwackey’s Sword Pokedex entry reads:
“The faster a Thwackey can beat out a rhythm with its two sticks, the more respect it wins from its peers”
It’s almost like using a pair of sticks on drums, and pair that with squirrel monkeys and a caveman with a bone tied into their hair…
This all fits in well with the musical drum theme as humans had been using such instruments even in ancient times, as early as 6000 BCE. It’s also theorized that humans were familiar with music even before speech.
These drums were usually made from tree trunks, and aren’t too different from the one Rillaboom uses! But, this is more than just music as Rillaboom even uses drums to engage Thwackey and Grookey for combat… in other words, drums have been akin to war cries throughout history, and the same applies to this evolution line.
Digging in more, if you see a Thwackey that has removed its two sticks from its head, it lets its hair loose just like this to flex a mohawk:
Now, this mohawk has two inspirations. One, Native American warriors.
And two, punk rockers playing the drums.
Did you know that the punk rock genre and aesthetic originated in the UK? In other words, the Galar region!
The UK also has an iconic animated punk band named… *drum roll* (see what I did here? 😀 )… Gorillaz! Rillaboom!
Also, while monkeys in general aren’t really associated with Great Britain, it does when it evolves into the mighty Rillaboom.
In this stage, it quits all monkey business and turns fierce and powerful. And when it Gigantamaxes, it has an entire freaking drum set!
This form has another UK reference, as it’s inspired by the drum-playing Gorilla featured in the infamous Cadbury chocolate ad:
The icing on the cake is the fact that a group of gorillas is called a band. Wow!
This also extrapolates to Rillaboom being a Grass type as apart from being a gorilla, of course, there’s research that establishes music being instrumental in the growth of plants! How cool is that?!
Basically, music is just vibrations and these are transferred from air to soil, helping in the distribution of nutrients beneficial for plant growth.
Rillaboom also draws references from druids, nature-loving mages who originated from the British Isles and were essentially the ancient version of, umm, high tree-hugging hippies 
Now, the hairdo of Grookey and Thwackey were covered, but what about Rillaboom’s hair? Well, that also has a British detail as it’s based on the Green Man, a pagan symbol found widely across Great Britain:
The Green Man is from Celtic folklore and represents growth, much like what Rillaboom does in its Gigantamax form. The symbol is so significant that it was also present in the 2023 invitation for the coronation of King Charles!
But, there’s more! The Green Festival is an annual music, science, and art festival held in Wales.
So, it’s of no surprise that all this boils down to the lore and design of a starter from the Galar region and that Rillaboom was featured as one of the strongest members of former Pokémon World Champion Leon’s team in the anime.
But, what about those leafy arm cuffs? You’ll be surprised that they are inspired jackets worn by a lot of classic rockstars, including John Lennon:
Rillaboom is a true rock star! 😮
The Scorbunny Family
Scorbunny is a fast bunny, and it runs so fast that it leaves trails of fire. This is reminiscent of cartoons that depict the same:
But why is Scorbunny always so fired up? Aside from its Fire typing, it loves football! Scorbunny sets rocks alight and kicks it for offense or just fun.
Football is, after all, the most popular sport in the UK (and the world for that matter), but it also officially started in the same region. But, the exact origins of the game dates back to 3000 years back in the Mesoamerican era, where people played Ullamaliztli as depicted below:
This was played in a similar fashion to Cinderace kicking a burning rock in its signature move, Pyro Ball.
The ball used during these ancient games represented the sun.
And where have we seen this gigantic ball of fire? Oh yes! 💡
Gigantamax Cinderace!
But… why a rabbit?
For starters (pun intended), Centzon Tōtōchtin is an Aztec group of divine rabbits that get together to drink, make merry, and party! 😀
Their nature is akin to a sports party… fans drinking in a bar and celebrating their favorite sport!
Harpastum became very big and filled huge arenas across the Roman Empire, which also included modern-day Britain. Fast forward to the 12th Century, football gained more prominence in Britain.
Also, it wasn’t exactly ‘foot’ball at that time, and had some elements of rugby in it, with players punching and pushing the ball to score goals. No wonder Cinderace learns the move Sucker Punch in the mainline games! 😈
Soon, this game was banned for a few centuries thanks to its violence but was reinstated when it took the form of modern football.
Finally, football became a craze and so, during the 50th Century, the first official clubs would appear, with organized competitions starting in the 1820s, in the UK! (Galar region)
Kids would don tracksuit hoodies to practice the beautiful game in the chilly early mornings of the UK. Oh, wait… who ‘wears’ such attire? Of course! Scorbunny’s evolution, Raboot!
It’s full of swag and also wearing an athletic headband, y’all! 😆
And finally, Cincerace is a pro football player through and through!
Those dots it has beneath its feet are like football boot studs, and it also rocks shorts like pro players.
This Fire type Pokémon loves football so much that it even poses like a player celebrating a goal, in its Gigantamax form.
With regards to the GMax form’s fiery ball looking like Cinderace’s face, it stems from the Mayan footballs often being made of skulls. But what does Britain have to do with this?
Well, the British had colonized the area covering modern Belize in Central America for mahogany, and this part was the capital of the Mayan Empire! 😮 In fact, this area was soon named British Honduras.
Whoever thought football had such a rich and diverse history to it, and Cinderace perfectly embodies that!
The Sobble Family
Aww, look at that face!
Whoa! Don’t cry, lemme cheer you up by sharing with everyone how cool you are! 😀
So, this lil’zard turns invisible in water, which is an exaggeration of chameleons turning ‘invisible’ by camouflage, that is, blending in with its environment.
But what’s with Sobble’s Water typing then? Well, it’s the basilisk, a lizard infamous for running on water for short distances.
These flamboyant lizards also tend to have a crest on their head, similar to the yellow parts on Sobble and Inteleon.
Let’s also talk about the mid-stage evolution, Drizzile.
Why is it so emo and smug? So, umm, Drzzile represents a certain way people grow up. Sobble is anxious, shy, and easily frightened to tears. As such, its adolescent form is a classic emo phase… sad, brooding, and rebellious.
That’s why, its ‘hair’ looks like a teen who adopts such a style during this phase.
Drizzile’s Sword entry states:
“A clever combatant, this Pokémon battles using water balloons created with moisture secreted from its palms”
Oh wow, as Eminem said… “his palms are sweaty,” pointing to nervousness yet grit.
However, the trials and issues of Sobble and Drizzile all come to a worthy wait, as Inteleon’s ‘cool factor’ is off the charts!
The name’s Intel… Inteleon 😎
This Pokémon gathers intel, like a spy. It’s no surprise that in the Galar Pokedex, Sobble is #007. Enter the most famous British spy… James Bond!
Inteloen is one of the coolest mons ever, having all the tools needed to excel as a spy. It has a specialized nictitating membrane that detects thermal spots as well as its foe’s weakest point, allowing it to fire off pressurized jets of water and achieve critical hits.
Inteleon takes a perfect shot and shoots water jets from its fingers like a revolver, complete with its hands resembling black gloves. They are usually worn by spies to not leave any fingerprints.
These water jets are shot at Mach 3, that is, three times the speed of sound. Did you know that water jets have so much pressure, that they are used for cutting glass, rock, metals, plastic, and even a diamond?! It’s wild.
So, what makes Inteleon’s water jets so deadly? That’s because the jet’s velocity does the cutting, not the pressure.
The kinetic energy concentrated at the point of contact of the water jet is:
The energy concentration varies as the square of the water jet’s velocity, and Inteleon freaking hits Mach 3!
But, Inteleon takes it many notches higher as its GMax form is a full-fledged sniper.
In this form, Intelone shoots water at a staggering Mach 7!!! It can also detect and gauge temperature, air pressure, wind, and humidity with its crest and nictitating membrane.
This is what expert snipers do… they spy on their targets, keep themselves updated and informed about every detail to get the perfect shot.
Moreover, its body resembles a tight jumpsuit that spies are often associated with:
Lastly, coming to the gliders of Inteleon:
These are wingsuits and are common spy gadgets used to flee from an uncertain place to safety.
Add the fact that Inteleon also has a sharp knife hidden in its tail, with the cutting edges supported by a layer of thick mucus, you get yourself a perfect spy armed with everything needed to get the job done. It’s so savvy, eh?
Conclusion
And there you have it! The Galarin starters may each have just a mono typing but their lore and design inspirations are vast! These three represent base British icons in a sublime way and boast some other details you can’t help but fall in love with.
Whether it’s the Cadbury Gorilla, David Beckham, or James Bond, each is superb and you should literally go all out to catch high IV versions of them in Pokémon GO! They have their meta niches in the future, thanks to their eventual Community Day events.
Happy hunting and all the best, trainers!
