Nintendo recently released the first part of the new Pokémon Sword and Shield expansion pass, Isle of Armor. This DLC adds a new area, story quests, gameplay features, Pokémon, as well as new Galarian and Gigantamax form Pokémon too. The expansion pass costs $29.99 and covers both the Isle of Armor content and future The Crown of Tundra content.
Fans have been returning to the Galar region to explore the new area and continue their Pokémon journeys, and the excitement in the Poké-community has been exploding ever since the Isle of Armor DLC released. Understandably, fans are showing their love for the new content in the form of fan art. Check out some of these awesome art pieces just below.
10 "You're Poison Running Through My Veins"
This adorable fan art by artsy_vii showcases the new Pokémon Sword rival, Klara, and Shinobu Kocho from the Kimetsu no Yaiba anime & manga series. Many fans have noticed the visual style similarities between the two characters, as well as the fact that Klara wants to be the poison type Pokémon gym leader and Shinobu is skilled in poisons.
While Klara is the rival for Pokémon Sword, owners of Pokémon Shield instead received Avery as a rival. The two characters are vastly different and Klara definitely seems to be the favorite out of the two when it comes to the Pokémon fandom.
9 Psychic Shock
This fan art by hmtmgl depicts Pokémon Shield's rival Avery, who is a psychic type specialist that hopes to become a Galar Gym leader one day. Though Avery's fashion sense leaves a lot to be desired, fans have fallen in love with his androgynous look.
Avery's League Card explains that he comes from a long line of prestigious psychic trainers, but because Avery lacks certain psychic skills such as levitation and teleportation, his family considers him to be a failure.
8 Urshifu
As part of the new story content in the Isle of Armor expansion, players receive a brand new legendary Pokémon - Kubfu. This adorable fighting type Pokémon evolves into Urshifu, which has two different forms, with the version it evolves into being dictated by which tower the player chooses to progress through in the story.
This beautiful fan art by jyunhh showcases the Rapidstrike Style Urshifu, which is the fighting/water type version that players can obtain by choosing to take their Kubfu through the Tower of Waters.
7 Slowpoke Party
This is a stunning piece of Klara by AirFreshenerFuture, with the artist reimagining the character's usual clothes into something a little different. This cute little outfit looks like something Klara might wear when she's not repping her Pokémon uniform.
Klara's League Card explains that she used to be an underground pop singer, attempting to sell merchandise of herself while holding concerts. Unfortunately, she only sold eight copies of her debut album that she titled "Krazy for Klara."
6 Time For A Dip
The DLC delivered some new Galarian versions of Pokémon we already know and love, with it being Slowpoke and Slowbro's time to get a variant. Slowpoke goes from being a water/psychic type to just a psychic type in its new form, with its evolved version, Slowbro, now being a psychic/poison type.
This beautiful fan art by ccearleyart is giving off plenty of summer vibes and is making us wish we could take a dip in the ocean like this little Slowpoke is. Fans are eager to see what the Galarian version of Slowbro will be like, but as of yet, there has been no reveal.
5 Retro Rivals
This fan art by dededsw_123 perfectly showcases the personalities of the two new rivals, Klara and Avery. Fans are absolutely loving that the in-game rivals have gone back to their retro roots and are not particularly nice to the player character. It definitely brings back the nostalgia for just how much players hated Blue back in the day.
Despite their less than appealing personalities, fans have still fallen in love with the new characters, and the amount of fan art of the two of them that can be found is a testament to that.
4 Dojo Classmates
The core premise of the Isle of Armor is that your player joins the Master Dojo alongside your new rival, either Klara or Avery, depending on the version. You are given a new dojo uniform and a new hairstyle when you join, and although you have to help your rival reclaim their own uniform, they never actually wear it.
This fan art by chii_mako imagines what it might have been like to see the two rivals in their dojo get-up. It's pretty interesting to see Avery in normal clothing, and especially nice to see him lose the outrageously tall hat he always wears.
3 The Big Boy
Though Charmander was lucky enough to feature in the main games of Pokémon Sword & Shield, the other Kanto starters were only recently added as part of the Isle of Armor expansion. These fan-favorites were also given Gigantamax forms, with Venusaur's new look being shown in this brilliant fan art by thelastshaymin.
As part of the new story content, players get to choose between Squirtle or Bulbasaur. Don't worry though, as you can easily find raids of the evolved version of whichever one you didn't choose, meaning you can still end up with both new Gigantamax Pokémon.
2 Max Soup
One of the new features that the Isle of Armor content added is the ability to make Max Soup for your Pokémon. The soup first appears as part of the story content, but you can create as much as you like providing you gather the necessary Max Mushrooms to make it.
Feeding eligible Pokémon the Max Soup will allow them to Gigantamax. This fan art by omaruru00 is a cute and hilarious depiction of the characters eating said soup.
1 New Addition to the Bear Cub Family
Here is another piece of fan art that showcases the adorable new Pokémon, Kubfu. This adorable little bear cub is a fighting type and fans immediately fell in love with him because of his cute looks and endearing, shy personality.
This fan art by _NITAMAGO is a beautiful piece that adds Kubfu to the family of other bear cub Pokémon that have appeared throughout the series. This artist has also done a piece that features Urshifu with the other evolved bear Pokémon, so be sure to check out the rest of their work.