“Sobble, the Water Lizard Pokémon. A Water type. When Sobble touches watery substances, its body takes on the color of its surroundings. Because it's timid, it produces large amounts of sweat and tears that cause it to become invisible. It is said that when Sobble cries, its tears have the same effect as chopping one hundred onions.”
Sobble is a small lizard-like Pokémon. It has light-blue skin, with darker blue patches on its cheeks and the tip of its curled tail, and a lighter blue belly and face. It has white eyes with dark blue irises. It also has a yellow fin on the top of its head, held by a dark blue spine. Sobble has thin limbs, each of them ending in two curved hands resembling those of a chameleon. It can use these to stick to walls and easily climb them.
Sobble can run around as both a quadruped and a biped, and use its forelimbs as arms. It has the ability to change the patterns and colors on its body when touching water, allowing it to camouflage itself. Sobble is known to be very cautious in nature. Due to being a bit timid, when Sobble gets nervous or embarrassed, it secretes water from its body like sweat in order to disappear into its surroundings. If Sobble feels threatened, it will start bawling and spreading its tears around the area. These tears are said to be as potent as 100 onions, and can cause anyone near it to start crying uncontrollably, which it will use as a distraction in order to escape. By eating berries, it can shoot opponents down with bullets of water it spurts from its mouth. It has perfect aim with these water attacks.
Despite the development team's concerns, Sobble has been one of the more popular Pokémon in Sword and Shield worldwide, and was voted the most popular of the starter trio in Sword and Shield in an official poll by the Pokémon Twitter account. A similar poll was conducted by Inside Games, with Sobble also winning, while a poll by IT Media found Sobble to be the seventh most popular of all the new Sword and Shield Pokémon.
The depiction of Sobble as a timid creature has influenced its fanart, where much of it was Sobble crying. Polygon writer Patricia Hernandez found it interesting that Sobble was so well-received, drawing comparisons between it and Popplio, who was criticized for its "innocent demeanor." Fanbyte writer Dylan Bishop felt kinship with Sobble's anxiety and sadness, saying that Sobble was a good fit for anxious players. He also commented on how it reflects on Game Freak's intent to emphasize creature emotion in the games. He hoped that it would eventually evolve into a happier Pokémon and felt it was a joke about a "woke, depressed millennial, until he considered that Wooloo was similarly conflict averse. While examining the starters, Vice writer Natalie Watson questioned why Sobble had to be crying, saying that Pokémon should be happy while hoping that it evolves into a less unhappy Pokémon, as well as finding it relatable due to being an "anxious wreck" herself. Polygon writer Nicole Carpenter felt that Sobble was the clearly best starter Pokémon in Sword and Shield, as well as her favorite in the games at the time.
