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Today, The Pokemon Company released the final trailer for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ahead of its imminent launch, which officially marks the end of the reveal cycle for Gen 9 outside of leaks and datamines. Soon after the trailer ended, a plethora of leaked images from Gen 9's in-game Pokedex started to surface online, including screenshots of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's starter evolutions, such as Fuecoco and Sprigatito. More leaks were shared throughout the day, and several evolution lines from Gen 9 games are now known, even though many questions remain unanswered in regard to Terastallization, such as how players can change the Tera type of their Pokemon and if all Tera types are actually available in the game.
The final Pokemon Scarlet and Violet trailer did answer some questions about Tera Raids, however, and the official website later confirmed that special encounters will be available in Paldea under certain conditions or on specific occasions. The first major Tera Raid event for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will launch on December 1, and it will allow trainers to catch an exclusive powerful Charizard from 7-star Raids, a Pokemon that is not normally available in Paldea. This can be problematic for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that Charizard is often quite strong in competitive battles, and it tends to define them.
Why a Special Tera Raid Charizard Risks Changing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Meta
Charizard was arguably one of the strongest Pokemon in Gen 8's competitive meta thanks to its exclusive G-Max Wildfire move, and while that specific tool is going away in Gen 9, featuring a powerful Charizard as the first major event in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet seems odd to say the least. This is also because Charizard might be the only starter coming back in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet outside of Gen 6 starters possibly being transferable from Pokemon HOME at some point further down the line.
Charizard has had special treatment for a long time now, to the point that it was one of two Pokemon to get two different Mega Evolutions in Gen 6, and it was the only Gen 1 starter in the base game in Pokemon Sword and Shield. Not only that, it was even the only starter capable of Gigantamaxing for a while, as Gen 8 starters only got their Gigantamax forms with the Isle of Armor DLC. But favoritism is not the only reason why Charizard is problematic, and that's something Terastallization can even make worse.
One of the advantages Charizard has is that it has great stats and a very good type combination that only makes it weak to three types out of 18, although Rock-type moves can hit it for four times the damage. However, with Terastallization that can change, and trainers could turn their Charizard into a Steel-type, for example, which would resist Rock and Electric and gain weaknesses to Fire, Fighting, and Ground, which are normally ineffective against vanilla Charizard. The event-exclusive Charizard for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet seems to have a specific type associated with it, and that's Dragon.
Charizard is one of those Pokemon that were always meant to be Dragon-type in terms of design philosophy, but for whatever reason, that didn't happen. Still, Gen 6 partly fixed this with Charizard X being Fire/Dragon, and it's not only already confirmed that the unique "Mightiest Mark" Charizard in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will always be Dragon Tera type, but it could also have powerful Dragon-type moves it normally doesn't. This could once again give it an edge in competitive battles for Gen 9, making it one of the most popular Pokemon ever, and also one of the strongest, even if that doesn't really help a new meta to emerge, and that's an issue.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet release on November 18 for Nintendo Switch.