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Warning: The Gen 10 Pokémon starters will give you major cute aggression
Pokémon’s 10th generation reveal delivered three tiny icons, and social media is already obsessed.
Life
Digital Culture
Warning: The Gen 10 Pokémon starters will give you major cute aggression
"Winds" and "Waves" may promise ocean exploration, but it's Browt, Pombon, and Gecqua who are already making the biggest waves online.
Crystal Bell
[An image of Crystal Bell's face]
Crystal Bell
Digital Culture Editor
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
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on February 27, 2026
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[The new starter Pokemon in Wind and Waves]
Choose wisely.
Credit: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
Three hot new bombshells have entered the Pokémon villa.
During its 30th anniversary Pokémon Presents livestream, The Pokémon Company officially unveiled two new paired games, Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, the franchise's 10th mainline generation. Within minutes of the reveal, the online conversation swerved hard in one direction: the adorable starters.
SEE ALSO:
10 of the weirdest little freaks in Pokémon history
Set in a brand-new, island-dotted region surrounded by a vast, glittering sea, Winds and Waves promise open-water exploration and tropical flair. But while the developers were showing off sweeping ocean vistas, fans were busy zooming in on three small, extremely marketable creatures.
Meet the new icons.
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Browt, the grass-type starter, is a round little bird with the energy of someone who's already read your text and decided not to reply. This is an angry little puffball with full Eugene Levy-level eyebrows, aggressively arched with "say that again" energy, and fans immediately clocked it as the chaotic contender of the trio. It's giving Angry Birds. It's giving tiny union rep. It's giving "don't talk to me before I photosynthesize."
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Then there's Pombon, the fire-type Pomeranian who looks like it would absolutely commit arson but in a cute way. All fluff and spark, Pombon feels genetically engineered to dominate plush sales and social media edits. The fire-dog lineage is a sacred one in Pokémon history, and fans were quick to declare this tiny blaze ball their ride-or-die little guy.
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SEE ALSO:
30 years of Pokémon: The memes that made it immortal
And finally, Gecqua, the water-type lizard with eyes nearly the size of its head and lashes that deserve their own beauty sponsorship. Gecqua doesn't blink; it poses. It's wide-eyed but fierce, adorable but dramatic. If confidence were a starter stat, Gecqua would be maxed out.
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Even the reveal of two tropical-styled versions of Pikachu — one rocking sunglasses, a floral shirt, and a sunhat, the other sporting a cap and dress — struggled to compete with the starter frenzy. Normally, special Pikachu forms would dominate the discourse. This time? Supporting cast.
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Thirty years after Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green first launched in Japan, Generation 10 has arrived with island vibes and ocean horizons. But if the immediate internet reaction is any indication, the real waves are being made by one grumpy grass bird, one chaotic fire pom, and one water lizard diva.
Topics
Pokemon
[An image of Crystal Bell's face]
Crystal Bell
Digital Culture Editor
Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities.
She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet.
She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie.