Good day, Pokémon Trainers! Have you ever noticed how certain events in Pokémon GO give special attention to a single Pokémon or the community itself tends to hype a new Pokémon up? Have you ever wondered why this Pokémon specifically and what its origins are?
Well, that’s where the Dashing Design series comes in! I’ll be your guide as we take a look at the franchise history, concept, and potential design inspirations of specific Pokémon. We just finished the world championships and have a lot to look forward to next season. Not only that, but there’s something to be excited about right now with community day just around the corner. So without further ado, let’s have a look at the star of this month’s community day, Popplio!

Popplio (Left), Primarina (Middle), Brionne (Right).
Popplio was introduced as the Water type starter Pokémon for the first two pairs of Seventh Generation games. The seventh generation encompasses the Pokémon Sun, Pokémon Moon, Pokémon Ultra Sun, and Pokémon Ultra Moon series of mainline games. Along with the Let’s GO games, Pokémon Let’s GO, Pikachu! and Pokémon Let’s GO, Eevee!
Being one of the three starters (or first partners, as they are called now), it was announced very early on in the generation. In fact, the first-ever trailer showcasing Pokémon Sun and Moon worldwide focused solely on the three starters, Popplio included. This was back on March 10, 2016.
As one of three starters of Generation Seven, Popplio and its evolutions had a strong presence outside of the mainline games as well. For example, Popplio appeared in the very first episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, “Alola to New Adventure!” as the partner of the recurring character, Lana. A Popplio was also the first partner Pokémon of Hau during the Sun and Moon ark of the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Etymology
Source: Official Trailer
The first part of Popplio’s name “Popp” might have multiple sources of inspiration. It could take from “Pop” (A small exploding sound such as the one heard when a bubble explodes), “Pōpō” (Hawaiian for “ball”), or “Pup” (Child of mammalian animals such as dogs, seals, and rats). “Lio” on the other hand is very likely short for “Lion”.
So, wait, Popplio’s a water-type lion? Well, no. The Japanese name makes what Popplio is a bit more obvious. “Ashimari” is very likely a combination of “Ashika” (Meaning Sea Lion) and “Mari” (Meaning Ball) or Marine (Meaning aquatic). So, ya, Popplio is a sea lion. Which is an animal that isn’t actually related to a lion.
Design
So we already established that Popplio is inspired by a Sea Lion. And if you take a look at a sea lion, you can see that it’s pretty 1:1 with how Popplio looks:
Source: Photo by Sand Crain on Unsplash
But as a Pokémon, of course, Popplio isn’t just a Sea Lion. There have to be other sources of inspiration, right? Well, indeed there is. Popplio’s other design inspirations can be found in the more subtle design elements.
For example, Popplio has a rather noteworthy large pink nose and a ruff around its neck. These are common elements that can be seen in circus clown getups. So, Popplio very clearly has a bit of a circus theme going on. But why though? I believe it’s because animals such as seals and sea lions doing various tricks are pretty common in typical circus performances.
This is actually directly referred to in Popplio’s dex entries. According to the Ultra Moon Pokédex:
Popplio gets on top of its bouncy water balloons to jump higher. It’s quite the acrobatic fighter!
Acrobatics and playing with balloons happen to be the common circus performances performed by Sea Lions:
Source: Kumagawa Sea World
As always, this dashing design wouldn’t be complete unless we take a look at Popplio’s evolutions. So let’s start with:
Brionne

Source: My Brionne (Now Primarina), PoppyGO
Brionne is the midpoint form between Popplio and Primarina. And already we can see rather substantial changes. Brionne’s eyes are completely different from that of Popplio’s. Now having eyelashes of sorts. Brionne’s ears are longer now, almost giving the impression of twin tails or twin braids. And the ruff on Popplio’s neck has now increased to three ruffs on Brionne’s body, giving the impression of a frilled dress.
All of these give Brionne a more feminine appearance. Brionne isn’t just any female though, but a female dancer. The dex entries make it rather obvious. Such as the one found in Pokémon Moon:
It cares deeply for its companions. When its Trainer is feeling down, it performs a cheery dance to try and help.
This brings back what I said in Litten’s Dashing Design, which is that all three of the Alolan Gen seven starters seem to take inspiration from human performances. In Brionne’s case, it’s similar to a ballerina or an idol. But that’s not all this line has cooking. Which we can see with:
Primarina

Source: Official Clip
Finally, we reach Primarina. And honestly, Primarina might be one of my favorite starter designs. There are so many little things going on with Primarina. For starters, Brionne’s ears hinted at twin tails, right? Well, Primarina now straight up has long hair. And the hair is tied with two pearl hairbands that have the same circular patterns as Brionne’s twin tail ears.
Not only that but these pearl bands now come in three much like Brionne’s ruffs that take the shape of a dress. With the third band being placed on Primarina’s forehead helping its tiara/crown stay in place. Speaking of those ruffs though. There are still three but they have distanced themselves from each other. Two are now at the top and bottom of Primarina’s “tail” half. Which helps give Primarina’s tail the impression of a long skirt. The third one on the other hand does double duty as sleeves and a collar. And this is what I mean, Primarina’s design is so neat! It quite literally evolves Brionne’s design keeping a lot of major elements intact.
The Singer
Okay, I think I’ve gushed long enough. What do all of these design elements even mean? Well, the thing that ties all of Primarina’s design elements together is in its name, “Primarina”. “Marina” is self-explanatory for a Water type starter evolution. “Prima” and really “Primarina” in general however seem to take from “Prima Donna”. A term used to describe the lead female singer in Opera. This is actually very heavily highlighted in everything to do with Primarina.
For example, Primarina learns the move “Sparkling Aria”, Aria being a specific type of operatic singing, but can also be used just to mean “Melody”. Primarina is also the only Pokémon to be able to use the Z-Move Oceanic Operetta (Sea God’s Symphonia in Japanese). All of these are song and opera-related. This extends to Primarina’s dex entries as well, as almost all of them mention Primarina’s singing prowess. Which can both be beautiful but which Primarina can also use as a weapon. This brings us back to the design. Now that you know all this, I think you can see that Primarina looks like a singer wearing an elegant dress!
Aerith Singing In a Dress. Source: FFVII REBIRTH Trailer
But Why Though?
Why did we go from performance sea lion to dancer, to singer? Like ya, all the Alolan starters are performance-based. But why is the Popplio line like this specifically? Well, taking a look at Primarina, it also looks quite similar to certain folkloric sea creatures.
Folkloric creatures such as Mermaids, Sirens (in some iterations), and Selkies. These are all half-human, half-fish creatures popular in fiction. They have some common qualities too. They are known to be beautiful creatures that can sing really well. Often using their gifts to lure in unsuspecting travelers as prey. Though nowadays they are definitely represented as beings that are a bit friendlier.
Source: The Little Mermaid By E.S. Hardy
The Selkie in particular is of note. As they are sort of like part Sea Lion, part Human. Selkies were also never represented as being too antagonistic from my understanding. However, they could sing to harm if they were wronged. Quite fitting to Primarina. Though in my own opinion, another reason for the Popplio line being Sea Lions is that Sea Lions, and Pinnipeds in particular are sort of like Mermaids for other four-legged mammals aren’t they? Just a thought.
Llyr The Water Elf, Inspired by Selkies. Source: Tears to Tiara
Coming back to the singer thing though. It definitely feels like the Popplio line takes from a bit more modern singers than the ye olde times. The fact that Brionne dances and Primarina sings makes a lot of sense considering how much those two forms of expression intersect with each other. Modern idols regularly perform both at the same time!
And there we go! It feels like just a few days ago we took a look at the Cyndaquil line in a Dashing Design. There I mentioned how the Cyndaquil is in contention for being my most favorite starter of all time. Well, the same applies to Primarina. I just find how naturally the elements of each of the members of the Popplio line really carry on from one form to another really cool. And I just love how elegant Primarina looks in general. So I hope with this analysis, maybe I’ve been able to make you love the Popplio line as well a little bit. Ultimately Popplio is a neat starter from an already very fun region in the Pokémon franchise. And this is why, Popplio’s design, is quite dashing!
Goodbye for now, Pokémon trainers. Priom-out!