So I’m sure 99% of everyone who hates this thing thinks it will be Fire/Fighting just because it’s clearly a wrestler. While it IS a wrestler, it’s based on a very specific wrestler:
Looks familiar, huh?
Anyone familiar with Tiger Mask might notice how I used an image of Black Tiger, Tiger Mask’s nemesis. Let’s go back to the “HEEL” part mentioned above. First, what is a heel?
So basically, they’re villains in wrestling. Why do I think Litten is a heel and not a face? Check out the concept art:
He’s spitting and hitting Pikachu with a table.
That’s not very sportsmanlike, is it? It’s exactly what a heel would do.
So since heels are evil, and faces are heroes, this fits the Dark typing perfectly. In Japan, Fighting type is equal to “Hero Type”, and Dark type is directly translated as “Evil type”. Think about Dark type moves: they’re all dirty and underhanded in nature.
In closing, he’s not only NOT Fire/Fighting, he’s a direct opposition to Fire/Fighting. GameFreak gave us a starter who combats this typing because they know we dislike it. Instead of giving us a boring quadropedal tiger with zero deeper design or cultural significance, they gave us a story and a tribute to real life and fictional characters all wrapped up in a nod to our disdain for the idea of ANOTHER Fire/Fighting type. Which is, to say, FAR more interesting than “just a big cat on fire”.
But that’s just my opinion. But now you now why it is designed the way it is.
Hmmmmmm
This analysis was so accurate that Incineroar is literally classified as the “Heel Pokemon”
@anyone who is still confused on this whole situation
Evil Tony the Tiger and I are gonna be best friends
[screaming externally] 