919: Nymble

Can you BELIEVE how long it has taken this god-dang series to FINALLY have a real, actual, proper, not actually-a-beetle orthoptera Pokemon?!?!? And thank friggin goodness this isn't a Pincurchin case where we've waited so long for the animal to be made a Pokemon only to be underwhelmed by the result.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Nymble is an adorable little baby grasshopper/locust, rather adorably combining the words "nimble" and "nymph" for its name. It gets a cute pod-like body on some skinny legs, and once again, the correct amount of them too! Because those are indeed an extra pair of legs on its back! Having the grasshopper's folded hind legs posed as backup legs that it only uses in emergencies is a funny idea, since it's just the function of those legs normally, but taken to the next extreme. And definitely a way to uniquely set it apart from real-life orthopterans while still keeping it recognizable as one. It may also have a pocket knife thing going on, but that seems to mostly come in with its evolution.

Nymble's face is also adorable. It does the usual Bug-type Pokemon thing of simplifying insectoid features like separate mouthparts and turning the antenna into little nubs to tone back the bugginess for mass audiences, but it's nice that it's still allowed strange, compound eyes to give it an appeal only adorable insects have. Seriously, grasshoppers are some of the more precious-looking insects out there, and we won't be hearing otherwise. Otherwise, we adore Nymble's little sock-like face!

The cooler version of Loki. Loki X!!!!!

920: Lokix

Lokix is a love-at-first-sight sort of situation. A "this is instantly a permanent team member on my first blind run" sort of swoon. We can't say we expected the grasshopper Pokemon to be one of the coolest Pokemon in the Paldean dex.

The design itself just plain kicks ass. Like, sometimes you just encounter a design that bypasses your critical eye with the simple fact that it just looks badass and you love every minute of looking at it. Its body being so anthropomorphized yet still so insectoid is perfect, especially loving the big pod-shaped body is so unmistakably "grasshopper", or in this case, locust, if the name is to be believed. On top of this now having a cool biker's helmet look going on with its face. We almost wonder if we'd like it just a smidge better if it has a single unified visor for an eye, just to give its eyes some of that insecty strangeness back, but a mean pupilless look is good too.

On top of that, it keeps the grasshopper back legs as a pair of legs that hangs off its back, folded up like a Transformers toy's alt-mode kibble. These legs are a lot more prominent on Lokix, now incorporating the spikiness of real-life grasshopper legs. The cool thing being that they function more as legs now more than ever. It stands on them for some animations, and most notably does some cool kicking moves with them. And I can't gush enough about how this is such a neat way to do an anthro grasshopper.

These legs also get into Lokix's potential themes and likely inspiration. There's loads of fanart out there of Kamen Rider-inspired Fakemon, most in particular with people's designs for grasshopper Fakemon. Fitting enough, seeing as Kamen Riders are largely insect-inspired, the OG being a grasshopper. Some a bit too blunt about it for our liking, so we appreciate that at least if an official grasshopper MUST be KR-inspired, that it's very much based on it as far as the broad strokes go, so it gets to stand out on its own as a cool design without just copying someone's homework. It still has the clear references; it's a grasshopper critter with cool armor and known for jump-kicks. There's even an ingame cosmetic item for your trainer that is more or less a Kamen Rider helmet, but themed after Lokix instead.

Lokix's design elements go pretty deep, with it imitating the Rider Kick for one of its animations, but also having a prominent "belt", which is what enables the Rider's transformations. One would figure Lokix aught to be a Bug/Fighting type rather than a Bug/Dark type, since Fighting is usually a synonym for a "Hero" type. This in particular seems to be another KR reference, since the Rider usually derive their powers from the same source their villains do. They adopt "dark" powers, even if they're not evil themselves.

The only thing resembling a flaw for this thing is that it's a bit plastic-looking, even for an insectoid, but that's fine! Again, if we're going off of Japanese superhero themes, it's just wearing plastic armor!

Lokix is just plain kickass. Grasshoppers are some of our favorite insects, and Lokix doesn't disappoint in the slightest. It's almost a treat, the way its hind legs are treated like a badass party trick. An episode-ending beatdown implement. The way they fold out during certain animations is just sick. Yeah, this one's a winner. And quite possibly my top favorite from the Paldea region. But that's not to say there's no more bangers from here on out! We're just getting started!