Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will likely revolutionize the franchise this November, especially now that the World Championships in London is closing Gen 8 and thrusting the series into its next chapter. Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing will be gone, but Gen 9 players have the Terastal phenomenon to look forward to as a battle gimmick, which could be a great way to customize one's strategies by adapting to different foes and threats. Despite the fact that Gen 9 is launching in three months, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have only shown 12 Pokemon so far, which is a surprisingly low number compared to the leaked Pokedex's alleged size.
The newest addition to the Paldean Pokedex debuted at the World Championship: Cyclizar, which appears to be the base form of both Koraidon and Miraidon, the mascot Pokemon for Gen 9. It is an interesting Pokemon because the official website states many trainers in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's region ride the motorbike pocket monster. While Cyclizar is its own Pokemon seemingly associated with Koraidon and Miraidon due to its type combination and being a rideable monster, it bears a striking resemblance to another Pokemon: Axew.
How Cyclizar From Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Resembles Axew
Although it may simply be a coincidence, Cyclizar and Axew are both Dragon-type Pokemon that share an almost indistinguishable color palette, for the most part. While Cyclizar sports a brighter green hue mixed with black scales on its head and tail, Axew's colors are mostly two dark shades of green for those same body parts. At first glance, Cyclizar could easily be mistaken for a new Axew form, which is even weirder because the critter's chest wheel is the only feature that makes it more akin to the two box Legendaries for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
The resemblance is interesting also because Axew is the only Dragon-type with two evolutions that is not a pseudo-Legendary, whereas Cyclizar is more similar to Cosmog in terms of how it appears to bridge the gap to the fully evolved Legendaries of its generation. Another strange connection between the two is that Cyclizar looks to evolve into the embodiment of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's past themes, Koraidon, much like Axew is a critter designed with dinosaurs and other ancient creatures in mind.
Although this is purely speculation at this stage, it's possible that Cyclizar and Axew have something else in common: being reverse-engineered from their evolutions in terms of design. Haxorus is the final stage of the Axew evolution line, and it was one of the first Pokemon to be designed for Pokemon Black and White, if not the first overall. Axew came to life later on. It's possible that Cyclizar went through the same process after developers came up with the designs for both Koraidon and Miraidon, as they are the major Legendaries of Gen 9.
Even if this doesn't end up being the case, the fact that these two Dragon-type monsters share characteristics goes to show how streamlined some physical attributes are across a given type, which is often seen in other Pokemon as well. Cyclizar and Axew's resemblance is all the more peculiar now that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will allegedly include so-called regional fakes: Pokemon that share multiple characteristics with existing species but are entirely different creatures. It's not impossible that Cyclizar was first conceived as a convergent species of the Axew line, or that their similarities were intended from the get-go.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release on November 18 on Nintendo Switch.
