As Pokemon games often do, Scarlet & Violet has a new gimmick to shake up battles called the Terastal phenomenon. This crystalizes any Pokemon in the region and gives them a cool hat called a Tera Jewel with a corresponding element. While we have yet to see what they all look like, today’s Pokemon Presents showcase did give us a good look at a handful of them. Terastallizing a Pokemon makes them more powerful, and changes their typing. So there’s a strategic element to getting a Pokemon with a specific Tera type. But what matters the most is how fashionable each of them are. Because what good is getting the most optimal typing if you don’t also look good using it? So let’s rate the ones we know so far.
Flying Tera Jewel
We love a callback, don’t we? Pikachu here is sporting crystalized balloons on his head, and it harkens back to the classic Flying Pikachu variant where the little guy was vibing in the sky with balloons tied around his body. The flying-type tera jewel represents an early look at how Pokemon Scarlet & Violet will attempt to convey certain ideas that don’t have the same recognizable visual elements of something like fire and water. It’s clever, cute, and still immediately comprehensible. 10/10, would let my Pikachu wear as he floats above ground-type moves.
Grass Tera Jewel
I really love the colorful flower arrangement of the grass-type tera jewel. This bouquet of flowers sprouting from Sprigatito’s head could have easily been just a bunch of the same flower, but I appreciate the sort of hodgepodge we’ve got going here. I imagine the Terastallizing gods walking through a crystalized garden and just picking whatever they felt that day and plopping it right on your Pokemon’s head. 10/10, would put a grass-type terastalized Pokemon as a center piece on my kitchen table.
Water Tera Jewel
The water-type tera jewel is a bit on the simpler side. It’s just a fountain spraying from Quaxly’s cranium. It does what it needs to do, is easily understandable, but it just doesn’t stand out as much as the rest of these jewels. 7/10, would be an effective identifier of a Pokemon swimming under water.
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Fire Tera Jewel
My boy Fuecoco is rocking a whole chandelier crown with the fire tera jewel. That is regal as fuck, and now I’m just wondering if Chandelure is in this game, because the ghost-type Pokemon would essentially be wearing itself as a hat as the barriers between Pokemon born in nature and human-created objects gets blurrier and blurrier with each passing video game. 10/10, would use as the sole light source in my study as I read old books.
Normal Tera Jewel
The normal-type tera jewel is the most straightforward one we’ve got so far. It’s a big ol’ jewel, and Eevee is making it work. 8/10, would accept as an engagement ring.
Ghost Tera Jewel
As I said with the flying-type tera jewel, we love a callback. The ghost-type tera jewel harkens back to the original Ghost sprite from the first generation games that shows up in the wild until the player acquires the Silph Scope. Once the item is acquired, you can see the Pokemon behind the spooky projection, but that original sprite still is burned into many a Pokemon player’s brain, and had me grinning when I saw it on top of Tyranitar’s head. But now it raises questions. Is the ghost tera jewel a living…er…dead thing that is also just vibing in this form on the heads of other Pokemon? Is it controlling my Pokemon Ratatouille style? Is the Ghost going to teach my Pokemon how to prepare good food that would melt a cynical critic’s heart? 10/10 – Would allow to turn my Pokemon into a gourmet chef.
