The Pokemon Company Teases Mystery ‘Mon for Sword and Shield

The Pokemon Company is teasing another new Pokemon for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

Usually, we get info drops, new trailers, or something like that via press release, Twitter, or a company blog. This time, though, the new Pokemon is presented as a glitched image, rather like the infamous MissingNo from the first generation of Pokemon games, with a brief description that also contains corrupt data.

The description reads: Only _____ that have survived many battles can attain this _____. When this Pokémon’s _____ _____ers, it will retire from combat.

The mystery ‘mon is a pure Fighting type with the Steadfast ability and weighs in at a whopping 257.9 pounds.

However, many are saying the Pokemon’s identity isn’t such a mystery after all. Earlier this year, several details leaked about the upcoming Pokemon games that have since proven correct, including Gigantamaxing, PokeCamp, and Team Yell, among other things.

One of the original claims was that Farfetch’d, the quirky, onion-toting bird from Gold and Silver, is getting an evolved form called Sirfetch’d. Sirfetch’d is supposedly a knight-themed Pokemon wielding an onion as a lance.

The Pokemon in the image certainly looks like it could be wielding a lance. Moreover, according to Pokemon historian and Twitter user Dr. Lava’s Lost Pokemon, Farfetch’d was originally meant to have an evolution, Madame, a swan-type bird wielding an onion as a sword.

Some are saying this isn’t an evolution, but instead a Galarian form of Farfetch’d. We can’t say the image shown off really resembles a bird in any way — Shiny Marowak, maybe, but not so much a bird.

Sirfetch’d would have to be wearing a lot of armor (or eat a lot of curry at PokeCamp) to put on that much weight too; the original Farfetch’d is only 30-something pounds, after all.

Additionally, Galarian forms have, so far, kept their original type alongside their new one, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense — Galarian Weezing’s Poison/Fairy typing, for instance.

We’ll know soon enough what the enigmatic ___ wielder is. Meanwhile, be sure to catch up on all the latest Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield news from the recent Nintendo Direct.