FAKE: Could the Gen VIII Starters Have Leaked?!

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IMPORTANT UPDATE: These have now been CONFIRMED FAKE as the artist has been found! They came out in a Facebook post. It’s unfortunate that these weren’t real… but let’s just hope that Game Freak manages to do even better!

These were posted anonymously, there are some concerns about the Japanese, but mostly pedantic discussion of hiragana vs katakana use. Most likely fake.

These do not come with names, but it appears as though we have a Grass-type Lemur, a Fire-type Rabbit and a Water-type Platypus!

Guess we’ll have to wait for more details to see if these are real or not! What are your initial impressions?!

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2,331 thoughts on “FAKE: Could the Gen VIII Starters Have Leaked?!”

  2. I dunno about y’all but the 4Chan thread is calling it fake, knowing their track record shit’s probably real.

    Anyone remember Gen 5?

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  3. I know this is a dumb reason to think they’re fake, but I don’t think they initial poses for the starters would have one of them in an action pose. All previous starters have them in more or less static poses and only in 3rd versions and remakes do they get art that has them doing some kind of action. Just saying……

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  6. if i had to pick……….maybe the Lemur….hopefully it ends up tough, that’s the only driving force behind my decisions when it comes to starters
    Charizard
    Feraligatr
    Swampert
    Torterra/Infernape
    Emboar <3
    Chesnaught
    Incineroar

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  7. aw wow, i love all three of them. the last supposed leak was alright, but this time i’m actually hoping it’s legit.

    also hoping they grow up to look just as good as they are now, particularly the lemur

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        • Calm down lol we don’t know for sure yet if It’s real or not and won’t know until someone comes out admitting to faking them or otherwise. Better to not take a stance on it until we know for sure.

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          • I feel like I’m going crazy. Are we never going to freaking learn? Every single leak ever we have seen the past couple months has had some reason it COULD be real and they NEVER ARE.

          • I know that but there will be leaks on something besides the starters and we have something that we know is real

          • See, I don’t share the opinion that the previous leaks were as believable. Some of them have interesting ideas or thoughts, but nothing that pointed to as much legitimacy as these do.

          • WHAT IS LEGIT ABOUT THESE???

            The sugimori art style isn’t hard to emulate. We see people do it all the time. The single thing this one has over everything else is that the Japanese is correct like… so??

            That’s what sank the other set of starters. I’m sure the faker figured out that you need proper grammar

          • THOSE WERE DIFFRENT! THEY HAD PROBLEMS THAT WERE OVERLOOKED. UGHHH THEY NEED TO EITHER REVEAL THE STARTERS OR THE ARTIST NEEDS TO COME OUT BECAUSE THIS HATE TOWARDS OTHERS IS RIDICULOUS!!

            Sorry if I offended anyone

          • It’s not the language and it’s not something that is easily singled out. It’s a combination of the art style, the level of quality that went in to the designs themselves, the style of reference poses, the use of uncolored background pieces. It’s an overall collection of elements that feels exactly like previous, proven reference sheets. It’s a level of time and effort that fakers simply don’t put in to their fakes.

          • Japanese is a hard language, just saying.
            It’s not like ‘oh right gotta have proper grammar’ because Japanese as a language is different from English.
            So that’s why it has points for me, for having Japanese that makes sense and not something from like google translate or something

          • I see and understand your point, but there’s also nothing saying that whoever drew these needed to write the Japanese descriptions. They could have gotten help from a friend or something, or a friend of a friend, who speaks fluent Japanese.

          • It’s not that big of a deal lol you need to calm down and realize it really isn’t that big of a deal. If people want to believe they are possibly real let them. No use getting pissed off over it. I am a wait and see person because honestly you never know. Anything can happen

          • No that’s fuckin stupid. It’s so frustrating to watch everyone be convinced a leak is real for literally no reason.

            Every week there is some new thing everyone just believes.

            Before you bring up the gen 7 ones, they wouldn’t let the same thing happen again and those were part of a larger leak that gave them credibility

            These have nothing but everyone just eats it up

          • Whatever star just get over it. Everyone has a different opinion and just because you don’t agree with it doesn’t make it fuckin stupid as you put it. Let other people think what they want and live your own life

          • So you’d rather just ignore the fact that this clearly has zero credibility and continue believing something that is obviously not true.

            Sure ok I mean people are pretty good at doing that already

          • And You can live your life that way lol at same time you can’t get mad at people living their life the way they want to live it. It just doesn’t work that way.

          • Whatever star. I am not saying anything else because I am convinced I would be better off banging my head against a brick wall at this point lol you have a nice night/day whatever time it is where you live

          • What facts are there for being fake tho? You just say it’s fake. I’d like to think deeper on it but you are not providing anything.

          • “They wouldn’t let the same thing happen again” but didn’t they allow the USUM demos be data mined just like the SM and ORAS (I believe) ones? I wouldn’t be surprised if these were leaked to build hype for the upcoming games

          • Of course a trailer would build hype but TBH rumors make waiting for a trailer easier. Its your own (not yours specifically) issue if you believe that the rumors are to be true and then become disappointed when they aren’t. For all we know Nintendo might make a Direct soon discussing the upcoming Pokémon game and they might reveal the starters. Possible leaks always lead to a trailer. Look at KH3 and how there were images of the Monsters Inc. world before it was even confirmed and they were written off as fake images because of how blurry and out of focus it looked. Lord and behold there’s a Monsters Inc world. Its just a matter of waiting for confirmation and until then these pokemon may be real or they may not be

          • What’s so special about them? They were released Literally right after a leaker described them.. and they outline for real leaks is already online. Y go alone believing some bs anyone can create nowadays. Besides.. Pokesirena says she believes they are fake herself.. they didn’t even use the proper wording between the pics according to her

          • Like I already said to star I believe in waiting until we have more info. That said thanks for actually talking to me in a calm manner you get an upvote for that

  19. Every time I come here and see those pictures again, I remain convinced that they’re real. My brain just can’t come to any other conclusion for some reason. I’m totally open to someone coming out and claiming them for publicity or whatever, but I feel the fact it hasn’t happened yet speaks volumes.

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          • Yes, because you’re just screaming fake at this point without actually saying why or how. That’s why people think it’s negativity.

          • When? I’ve never seen it personally, so I’d like to see.
            And it’s not sudden, I’ve been asking for your points the whole day I’eve been here.
            If you’re gonna claim something, you need proof. Both for real or fake.
            That’s just who I am. I need facts to back statements.

          • Fine even though I have repeated it over and over I’ll say it again

            – The last big leaks were starter concept art leaks that came out MONTHS before even the mid evos. They would NOT let that happen again especially when the images are such high quality.
            – Everyone wants to make fake leaks like those now. There are so many concept art leaks. They’re just like Coro Coro scans from back in the day but easier to make because you don’t have to make it look like the worst designed, most eye bleeding magazine in existence. Just draw them in a few poses and add some Japanese text.

            – There is no credible leaker backing this up with more information like the Chinese leaker with SuMo.

            – The only evidence supporting this is real is the Japanese text. While yes it’s a difficult language, that’s an extremely low bar isn’t it?

            – The sugimori style isn’t that hard to emulate. Take two seconds to look online.

            I say why the sudden need for evidence because everyone just accepts that these are real without anything to really back it up. But then I’m hateful because I’m the only one not just agreeing with everyone because I want it to be real.

            And yeah like I would love these. The bunny would be top 3 starters for sure but you gotta look at facts.

          • Thank you, I haven’t gotten anything like this since I was here, maybe you said most of this earlier before i got here, but I missed it so I was honestly confused.
            And I’ve always been for evidence regardless of other people. I don’t accept it willy-nilly, heck I;m STILL NEUTRAL about it because it’s an isolated thing and the art style being so easy to copy. And personally, my opinions are not for anyone else, they are for me.
            I gave it points for Japanese, but you’re right, friends can help out or they are fluent, but some part of me feels that’s off. I don’t think it’s a low bar at all because that’s an impressive feat for an artist to have but whatever.
            You’re free to say your opinion, I just think the way you went about it rubbed people the wrong way. That’s probably why it was seen as negative. No hate on you just the way you went about it.

          • I don’t really see it as hate. But in terms of pokemon “leaks” I kinda think everything should be considered fake *until* credible evidence comes along. The Alolan final starters had credible evidence because they featured Mallow, who then was revealed later. There’s nothing to go off of with these so I think a lot of people are getting their hopes up for no reason other than “good Japanese, good art.”

            Hate to say it, but I’m sure there are native-to-Japan pokemon fans who are good artists

          • I think considering everything fake until it is officially revealed just dissuades speculative discussion, which is what Pokejungle posts these rumors for. And you say that Mallow’s presence was credible evidence, but not everyone has the same lines of credibility as you. I remember people screaming “Fake! Everyone who believes them is stupid!” all the way up to their official reveal when they suddenly about-faced and always knew they had been real (not on here, mind you, I wasn’t involved with PJ discussions then).

            It’s perfectly acceptable to believe they’re fake, but insulting other people just because they don’t share your opinion is not. (Not talking about you here, Ultron, simply past experience)

          • See, different lines of credibility. I don’t believe the games being announced makes a leak of information any more credible that it would be before the announcement.

          • Well people who thought they were fake even when mallow was revealed are simply dumb, to be quite frank lol.

            I’m not trying to stifle discussion at all. I love rumors and pokemon “leaks,” but I don’t think they should be taken too seriously at this point. We don’t even have titles or a released date (or zeraora) so it’s just unlikely to me something like this would leak in such high quality. But we’ll see, I’m not dismissing them as impossible*, but I’m not saying they’re any more credible than most of the things we see

    • Meh doesn’t change anything. Just means who ever made them knows how to write in Japanese. Doesn’t mean they’re real

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  22. I think everything is getting lost in translation
    There’s no issue with thinking these are real or fake.
    The issue is that people are jumping on the ship that it’s one or the other way too fast. It’s fine to be hyped and hope that these “leaks” are real, but don’t count on it. Be ready to accept either outcome.

    I know not everyone is doing it but the fact that some people are firmly believing that these leaks are 100% real or fake is what the cause of this “hate”.

    We’re all a family here, lets not let Weed King Julien, a lit easter bunny , and perry the platypus tear us apart, kay?

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    • Agreed 100 percent. I am staying on the fence right now. If these end up real I will be so excited! If not oh well crap happens but if the artists would definitely deserves mayjor props for them. And them names though 😂

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    • Pokesirena even thinks they are fake because of… Facts. Y should we get out hopes up whenever some artist has too much time on their hands? So no. It’s perfectly fine to pick sides. Can’t be doing this all day everyday

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  24. Ok but… Y did no one tell me Boruto is So Good! 😍
    He kind of reminds me of… me.. when I was in school. Except being well known Doesn’t equal popular 😅
    I only felt some of the action sequences were a little silly at the start.. too unrealistic.. even for an anime

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