Kotora is the cutest Pokemon that never was

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Please, Game Freak, can we have them?

(Image credit: Rachel Briggs)

YouTuber Dr. Lava, PokeTuber has been doing the good work of uncovering precious media from scrapped Pokemon concept characters and sharing them to his Twitter account. One of his most recent posts revealed the so-cute-how-dare-they-scrap-it Kotora family, a trio of utterly cuddleable Electric-type tigers, and now we're just waiting for the fan petitions to bring the Kotora Pokemon into canon.

Kotora, which translates to "baby tiger," and its first evolved form, Raitora ("thunder tiger"), were introduced with the Spaceworld demo of Pokemon Gold & Silver in 1997. It wasn't until recently that the third evolved form was leaked with only a back sprite, evolution data, and ID number, leaving concept artist Rachel Briggs to render the speculative artwork of the third form's front side seen in Dr. Lava's Twitter posts.

Kotora and Raitora's gen-2 planned movesets were also included in the Twitter thread, which include Thundershock, Roar, Leer, and my personal favorite: Scary Face. No offense to the Kotora family, but there is absolutely nothing scary about your adorable tiger faces.

Unfortunately, the Kotora family's chances of being introduced as canon seem relatively slim, with no official announcement, leak, or even tease from the developers that might suggest otherwise. Still, that won't stop us from fantasizing about Game Freak dropping a last-minute announcement introducing Kotora to Pokemon Sword and Shield. After all, the skunk-ish Gene Simmons lookalike Obstagoon was just revealed, so we see no acceptable reason to exclude the far cuter Kotora.

We compiled a handy list of every Gen 8 Pokemon coming to the Pokemon Sword and Shield Pokedex.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.