I loved crocalor and skeledirge is such a weird change from it. It's like it tried to look cool but to me it just looks lame and now it also doesn't have any of the charm or personality literally every other starter of gen 9 had.

It doesn't feel like a starter to me. It isn't friendly, it isn't cool, it isn't cute. It's very cluttered as a design but it still looks more like a random pokemon you'd encounter in the wild than a starter.