This is part four of my review of the ninth generation of Pokemon, and... well, I really do feel like this generation has a much, much better ratio of weirdos compared to 'regular' Pokemon compared to the Galarian Pokedex! And we haven't even gotten to the Paradox Pokemon just yet!
Click here for the previous part.
___________________________________________________
#957-959: Tinkatink, Tinkatuff & Tinkaton
An interesting Pokemon line, and admittedly I wasn't (and still isn't) a huge fan of Tinkatink when I first saw her. This line is our first Fairy/Steel Pokemon after Klefki and the first stage really isn't impressive. It isn't even cute, which you'd think all first-stage Fairy babies would be. I think it's that mouth? I get that the little square is meant to represent like a young baby's first teeth, but the fact that it blends with the rest of the head is just kinda disturbing to me. Add that to how the pink just kinda... changes colour from the dark pink of the spherical head to this weird little light-pink lump before the little scrunched-up hair.. it just kinda weirds me out how Tinkatink's hair is attached to her head.
Anyway, the reason why Tinkatink is Fairy/Steel is because the entire line is themed around fairies holding gigantic chunks of metallic weapons which they create by scrounging around for discarded iron scraps. In Tinkatink's case, her hammer kinda resembles a baby rattler, and Tinkatink will always remake the hammer again and again becuase she wants a perfect hammer... and also because the hammer is often stolen by metal-eating Pokemon. Probably those pesky Arons.
I can't really find a good fairy equivalent, and even the Wiki just vaguely shrugs about 'gnomes or dwarves', but I feel like the concept kind of stands well enough on its own.
Tinkatuff is a much more pleasant Pokemon to look at. Her teeth and mouth shape look better with one on either side of the lips, and the hair actually looks like heavily-stylized anime hair now, with a ponytail at the back. Tinkatuff now wields a giant sledgehammer, but you can see in the core of that hammer is Tinkatink's rattle! I love how its shape is still obviously a bunch of curled metal sheets wrapped around -- and not completely -- around the original rattle hammer.
I do like the explanation in some of the dex entries, where it identifies Pawniard and Bisharp as the source of her hammer. Tinkatuffs will beat up entire groups of Pawniards to gather materials for their hammer, which is such a ballsy thing to do -- though I guess those Pawniards' part-Dark typing makes them vulnerable to Tinkatuff's Fairy-typing. Not sure which part of a Pawniard you could make sheet metal out of, though. Also, both Tinkatuff and her evolution have these kind of... metal quasi-skirt thing going on? Those do look like they were harvested from the Pawniard spikes.
4/6. Tinkatink and Tinkatuff are around the 3-4 range.
My favourite of the line is still easily its evolution, Tinkaton. Her hair has grown into two giant chunks of hair that almost look like extra legs and reminds me of Hattrem from last generation. The two teeth now move on the upper jaw, which looks cute as well.
And the hammer? The hammer has the biggest evolution, looking the most impressive with its gigantic size relative to Tinkaton's main body. Love the details here, like the nail that shows how Tinkaton latches these metal pieces together; the giant piece of buzzsaw or something on the central portion of the hammer that gives it an extra-deadly look... and, of course, the fact that the core of the hammer is still Tinkatink's rattle covered with the 'chamber walls' of Tinkatuff's hammer. Love that they managed to find an artistic solution to show off the core of the hammer. The hammer comes with its own signature move, because Tinkaton can use 'Gigaton Hammer', a powerful Steel-type move that Tinkaton can't use twice in a row. I guess she can't swing that hammer too many times in a row?
It's an adorable trope in and of itself, I guess, to have a tiny little gremlin holding a gigantic-ass weapon. The dex entries for Tinkaton and Corviknight note that this adorable-looking little pink buddy... is the natural enemy of Corviknight. Tinkatons would launch rocks into the air with its hammer (even though she doesn't learn any Rock-type moves naturally, so presumably someone is going around slapping Rock Tomb and Rock Slide TM's to all wild Tinkatons) to take down Corviknights, and this is such a problem that the Corviknight Taxi service had to be replaced with Squawkabillies. Not that we ever see the taxi on-screen, but I do like that the Tinkatons actually have their own ecological niche. I really do think Tinkaton is by and far the most pleasant looking of the 'Tinks' for sure, and even used one in my Scarlet playthrough!
Tinkaton is 5/6.#960-961: Wiglett & Wugtrio
So our second convergent evolution, after the Toedscool line, are these guys, which were released pretty early on in the promotional buildup to Scarlet and Violet. And Wiglett is a pure-Water type, and is very explicitly considered a garden eel of the genus Heteroconger. This isn't a bizarre phallic mole, it's a fish! I kept garden eels before back when I had a marine aquarium, and I've always loved how they poke only part of their body out of the sand and rocks of the 'sea floor'. And this is exactly how Wiglett behaves, poking its head out of the sandy beaches and retreating back in if you get close to it. It's just that instead of a fishy face, Wiglett has Diglett's iconic eyes and nose.
Again, the pokedex entries note how the resemblance to Diglett is completely coincidental, and thanks to their environmental adaptation. We'll just assume that nose and that eyes and the lack of mouth is essential to either burrowing into either mountains or sandy beaches in the Pokemon world?
Unlike Toedscool, I don't think there's too much for me to say here. It's just Diglett as a garden eel, and it sure is a fish that hangs out in the beaches. Now real garden eels do live entirely underwater and pop out from the seafloor, but because of gameplay reasons, Wigletts only show up on beaches. It does remind me of a different kind of worm-like creature, like the Lugworms that live in beaches and sometimes pop out of their dens to scare beach-goers.
I do honestly wish that either Toedscruel or Wugtrio had been a bit more different than their original inspirations, though I also do appreciate the dedication to the gimmick. Wugtrio's three garden eels popping out from a rocky den, although obviously they're a bit more slender and wiggly than Dugtrio... and, well, the fact that Pokemon's most phallic design turns very red is not lost on a lot of fans. There are some notes that Wugtrio might have taken designs from other aquatic, stationary colonial worms like giant tube worms or tubifex worms, which I can definitely see.
I love, though, the description from its dex entries, where Wugtrio will wrap their long bodies around prey, and then drag the prey into its den to consume. Surprisingly brutal, and while garden eels mostly feed on plankton and other microscopic prey, it does make Wugtrio feel like a proper, larger eel! It's somewhat represented in its multi-attack signature move, Triple Dive.
I think Wugtro's Violet entry describes the naming scheme of these convergent evolutions (Wiglett and Wugtrio's Japanese names are basically 'WaterDiglett' and 'WaterTrio') because they were considered to be regional forms until presumably all the real-world equivalents of considering a similar-looking creature as a different species or genus ends up coming up -- like most importantly, the fact that they can't interbreed. Something that regional variants can, despite the difference in phenotypes (typing and movesets)! And... despite what I've written, I do think that I like the concept behind Wiglett and Wugtrio more than I like the actual Pokemon. I respect what they're doing here, I do feel like Paldea's beaches are very fun to explore thanks to the varied ecosystem, but I can't say I really love Wiglett or Wugtrio all that much.
4/6.#962: Bombirdier
An... interesting one? Bombirdier is, I think, the second of the five 'Titan' Pokemon that serve as a series of bosses that we fight across Paldea, and all of them are single-stage, non-evolving Pokemon. Bombirdier is the one I consistently forget about, and I'm not sure why. He's got more going on for him than Squawkabilly for sure! So Bombirdier is based on a white stork and the legend that storks will deliver babies -- something that is alien to me outside of the Disney movie Dumbo, but apparently it's not just in European countries, but also in certain Middle-Eastern and African legends as well.
It's a bit hard to tell on its standing image, but Bombirdier will hold that gigantic apron with its mouth to stimulate the cloth bundle that these baby-delivering storks are commonly depicted as. That would've been an okay but boring Pokemon... which is why Bombirdier has an extra gimmick in that it's a gigantic asshole. It's Flying/Dark type, and it drops rocks down instead of delivering babies. In fact, that's the whole gimmick of the overworld puzzle of getting to the Titan Bombirdier, that it rolls down gigantic rocks down a mountain that you have to dodge. Bombirdier isn't Rock-type, but unlike Tinkaton, Bombirdier actually has a signature ability, Rocky Payload, that gives it STAB from Rock-type moves. Cute!
I also love the little description on its Pokedex entries, noting that it creates the apron from shed feathers, and attaches them onto its natural chest feathers. And the fact that it can also use this apron to bundle up food to bring to its nest. It's not my thing, but I do appreciate that they gave this rock and bomb-dropping bird such a smug looking expression and theme.
3/6.#963-964: Finizen & Palafin
Oh, hey! The long-awaited dolphin Pokemon! And... it sure is a dolphin. It's pretty cute, with enough embellishments like the wave markings and the multi-coloured eyes. To be honest, I can't say I really noticed much about the design of Finizen other than it being a dolphin. There are some exaggerations of a dolphin's abilities, like an interpretation of a dolphin's echolocation as an ability to sense the emotions of other living creatures.
There's also a rather strange detail where the water ring on its tail is created from seawater mixed with a sticky fluid that comes from its blowhole. A real-life dolphin's blowhole does contain mucus, but it is used to help aid in echolocation, and I'm not sure what the 'joke' was in turning it into a water ring it uses to play.
And then Finizen evolves into Palafin, which... looks exactly the same as Finizen, save for a little heart on its chest. This is Palafin's "Zero Form", and is yet another example of the 'wtf, Nintendo' hidden evolution methods, because it requires you to level up Finizen specifically while in a Union Circle, so you have to engage in multiplayer to evolve it. It's not the weirdest evolution method, but unlike something like Runerigus, Malamar, Alcremie or Brambleghast, I don't really see the 'story' behind the evolution method.
I do find Palafin rather interesting, though, becuase it's a Superman joke. In a region based on Spain? Okay? Most fan-made dolphin Pokemon either go for the expected cutesy Water/Fairy or Water/Psychic type combinations, or go for the often-downplayed-in-media brutality of real-world dolphins and make them Water/Dark... but instead, we get a Superman Pokemon. His name is Irukaman (Dolphin-Man) in Japanese, very superhero-y! The evolution level is even 38, a reference to 1938, where Superman debuted in Action Comics #1.
So 'Zero form' Palafin is basically Palafin in disguise, and it will change its appearance only if it hears its allies calling for help. But it will only 'transform' if there isn't anyone looking at it... just like how Clark Kent would rush into a telephone booth and super-speed change his clothes to become Superman while everyone's paying attention to Lex Luthor's giant robot mecha. In practice, Palafin needs to switch out before transforming into its unique form, the 'Hero Form'. Thankfully, it learns Flip Turn naturally, a previously move-tutor exclusive move that's basically Water-type U-Turn.
The dex entries note that Palafin's Hero Form is the result of it 'awakening its ancient genes', allowing it to swim at 50 knots, lift a cruise ship with one fin, and saving drowning people and Pokemon... wait, is that why they made the dolphin Pokemon a superhero? To capitalize in the 'rescuing people in trouble' trope often associated with dolphins?
Palafin's design is more or less what you expect when you say 'muscleman dolphin'. And the weird snot-water-ring that Finizen has ends up being used by Palafin to cover his eyes, and give him some extra gloves and an "almost-cape" that extends out of the shoulders. The heart on Zero Form has expanded into a very superhero-esque chest crest. While I'm not sure that there's anything in common with the legend other than the idea of a 'shapeshifting dolphin', one of our commenters below did note the existence of a South American myth about Boto, a shapeshifting dolphin that can transform into a man -- and would later be attributed as a common name to several types of river dolphins.
Ultimately I'm actually not a fan of Palafin's Hero Form design visually. But I love basically everything else about it mechanically and conceptually, which is a rarity. More than almost any other Pokemon in this generation, I really do appreciate the creativity displayed with Palafin here.
4/6.#965-966: Varoom & Revavroom
Very unexpected. The 'single cylinder' Pokemon Varoom is just a sentient internal combustion engine, and I will not talk too much about what it might be inspired from because I only know the bare minimum of engineering knowledge. We really haven't gotten a 'sentient mechanical device' Pokemon in a while, huh? We did get a couple of possessed items, but not really something like Varoom here. And he's Steel/Poison, with the steel part being the engine, and the poison part being the toxic fumes it unleashes.
Varoom himself is a pretty simple but fun design, too, with a metallic body and a bunch of rocks that form its lower body and a bunch of wheels that are not too dissimilar from the Rolycoly line. I love the eyes on the sides of the body, and the 'mouth' being on like a stalk or something. The exhaust vent forms a 'tail' of sorts, and the overall anatomy looks pretty interesting! The Violet dex entry explains the rocky portions of Varoom, noting that the stel section is Varoom's actual body, while the rocks are something similar to a hermit crab's shell -- those are rocks and whatnot that Varoom latches onto, and it converts the minerals within into energy. So do Varoom prey on Rolycoly and Charcadet, then? They are found in similar biomes...
There's also a very interesting note about its origin, becuase an 'unknown poison Pokemon' entered and 'inspirited' an engine in a scrap-processing factory. It really does sound like a possession, and everyone's favourite Poison/Ghost gas ghoul Gastly is an obvious culprit... but some people theorize something like Koffing merging with the gas engine or something.
Whatever the case, Varoom evolves into a full-on car, Revavroom, and I absolutely love the design continuity here. The rocks form the main body of the "car", while the Varoom body evolves just into the epic hot rod engine, the exhaust vents and the, uh, front bars of the car? My car anatomy jargon isn't that good, sorry. It sure goes from a single-cylinder engine to a multi-cylinder one for sure!
But I love the purple-tinged exhaust vents, and it's something that jumps out at you, but that isn't Revavroom's actual "face". Sure, the eyeball is there, and there's a small hole under the eyeball, but that's not its mouth. Rather, Revavroom's mouth is the hot rod engine on top of it, the puck-shaped organ with jagged jaws. He even has a very cartoony tongue that juts out in its animations! This small detail makes Revavroom so much more interesting than just 'car, but Pokemon'.
Also, despite having wheels and a car body made by rocks, Revavroom and Varoom actually just defy gravity and fly around, which I thought was fun. Revavroom still continues to consume rocks, and spews toxic gas everywhere. Its signature move, "Spin Out", is meant to represent a car changing gears so fast for a burst of acceleration (or damage in this case) and losing future contrl (or speed in this case). Not my favourite design, but it's such a creative thing than just making the Revavroom into a 'it sure is a sentient robot' like Magnemite!
I can't end this without mentioning the Starmobiles, which are gigantic pimped-out cars with musical stages on top, which serve as final boss battles with the five Team Star characters, and apparently 'designed' by Ortega. And instead of having a rock body, we get to see a Revavroom attached to the hood of the car -- something that's actually rather lost to me the first time I saw one of these Starmobiles. Also, there are two Varooms pushing the car from the side, whih is even harder to spot with how loud everything is. This is based specifically on dekotora (short for 'decoration truck') in Japan, where trucks will be modified with elaborate murals, steel parts and LED lights.
Also, all the Revavrooms have had their types entirely changed to mono-types based on the people wielding them, and... I'm not sure how the Starmobile got changed into Fighting or Fairy type? (Dark and Fire, on the other hand, make sense). It is a very interesting little 'oomph', somehwat similar to Eternamax Eternatus from the previous generation where a Pokemon has a completely unobtainable 'boss' form... it's kinda weird, honestly, and while I'm a bit peeved that there's a form you can't get, well... y'know, insert your own National Dex rant here.
4/6.#967: Cyclizar
Ah, Cyclizar. A Dragon/Normal Pokemon that doesn't evolve, Cyclizar's existence is... well, it's kinda interesting becuase it's basically the basis of the game's two legendaries, and it's hard to discuss Cyclizar without discussing Miraidon and Koraidon. Basically, Cyclizar is a 'present-day' showcase of what the species (?) looks like when it's all mortal and mundane and stuff. It's green like a lizard, the wheel parts are all black, and it's basically the most generic you could make the design that they used for Koraidon and Miraidon.
And... I've gone on record on saying that I'm not a big fan of the bike-lizards, though my opinion on them have softened a lot after playing through the games. All three of the bike-boys are based ultimately on the fan-necked lizards of the genus Sitana and Sarada. Only instead of a massive fan of flesh, Cyclizar and its legendary brethren inflate a neck-pouch (not too dissimilar with frogs) and turn it into wheels. Simultaneously, it rolls up its tail and it turns into a rear wheel. You could also see that there is a convenient flap of flesh that work like a motorcycle or a bicycle 'seat', and indeed, Cyclizars are used all over Paldea as the replacement for the previously-ubiquitous bicycle. Of course, our protagonists ride on much cooler legendaries, but I do really like the bit of world-building where there are Cyclizar parking lots in cities and Team Star pimping out their Cyclizars like yakuza bikes. Love the little detail of symbiosis where Cyclizar finds enjoyment by having the rider's body heat help to heat its own cold-blooded body up.
I also like a lot of little subtle references to other lizards, too -- Cyclizar's head resembles the shape of a motorcycle windshield, but it's also reminiscent of the head-crests of something like a chameleon or a casquehead lizard. The tip of Cyclizar's tail is white, which I think is meant to inspired by a lizard like a gecko which has shed its tail and has a paler 'regrown' tip. Which is represented in combat by its almost-Signature Move (Cyclizar shares it with Orthworm, below) Shed Tail, where Cyclizar basically casts Substitute and switches out -- a reference to how geckos will leave their tail behind to distract a predator and cover for the main body's escape.
And... again, I still think it was a bit of a forced concept, but my respect for Cyclizar has risen a lot after taking a closer look at its artwork here, especially side-by-side with the two legendaries (my original drafts had Cyclizar stuffed with its prehistoric and futuristic counterparts at the end of the dex). The idea of a lizard-bike seems like a lazy Ninja Turtle toyline gimmick, but the idea of 'how can we make a bicycle into an organic, natural-looking Pokemon'... yeah, I can respect Cyclizar a bit more now.
Also, because I can't really think of where else to put it, Cyclizar has features that 'bridge' Koraidon and Miraidon, like having its middle toes partially fused (whereas Miraidon has its middle digits fused, while Koraidon has the two only connected by a membrande), Cyclizar shares the crest and subtympanic shields with Miraidon, and the tire anatomy, lack of claws and black paw-pads of Koraidon.
Still ultimately never going to be a design I love, but I can respect Cyclizar and his legendary brothers.
3/6, could be 4. #968: Orthworm
A worm is another animal that I wanted to get turned into a Pokemon, because we've got a bunch of snakes and caterpillars, but never an actual worm that's not an insect. And just like the dolphin and grasshopper, we're just checking off a lot of the animal species that aren't represented in Pokemon yet! And the humble earthworm is... not a Ground-type, no, but a pure Steel-type. It's a rather wacky-looking creature, too, with the segmented body of an annelid, but with the goofiest face with a gaping mouth and adorable beady eyes that the game even makes fun of.
Orthworm lives in deserts, mainly, and turns its body metal after a diet of consuming iron in the soil. It's not a Ground-type, sure, but its signature ability, Earth Eater, allows it to convert Ground-moves to energy. That's a cute way of acknowledging the real-life inspiration while also still giving it a less-common typing. A particularly large Orthworm serves as one of the Titan Pokemon in Paldea, making its home in a mine and basically being a neat little shout-out to all those giant subterranean Dune-based worms in media. Just... more goofy. (The actual species isn't much larger than a snake).
Orthworm has a very pronounced clitellum -- that's the silver second segment -- and those blue circles there are actually hiding arms. Which really caught me off-guard the first time I saw Orthworm, but it's basically a surprise tactic, where Orthworm will unleash its "tendrils", and then pelt the opponent with punches. The Wiki notes that this might be based on Polychaetes, a class of marine worms closely related to earthworms... but it might just very well be that it's a funny detail to have. Anyway, a simple, but cute weirdo.
4/6.#969-970: Glimmet & Glimmora
Another surprising one! I wasn't sure what Glimmet is supposed to be, and honestly, I still am not! Sharing the same Rock/Poison typing as the eldritch Ultra Beast Nihilego. So you can bet that we're in for some utter weirdness this time around. And Glimmet is some sort of... creature based on a plant or sea sponge, except that it's also made up of poisonous rock. The design is pretty weird, with a bulbous 'stem' that Glimmet floats around with, terminating in a flower with two glowing eyeballs in the center. So this is some kind of purely-rock creature like Onix or Geodude, only instead of looking like an animal, this species looks like a plant! Which... when I put it that way, isn't super-weird in regards to the Pokemon world's ecology.
So what makes Glimmet Rock/Poison? It absorbs nutrients from cave walls, and considering that it's most numerously found in Area Zero (though it can be found in other caves, too), apparently Glimmet also absorbs all the poisonous things in the cave walls, creating petals of crystallized poison. Like some plants, Glimmet will scatter these poisonous crystal fragments "like pollen" as a way to protect itself, represented in the ability Toxic Debris, which casts the move Toxic Spikes when Glimmet gets hit.
Many fan speculation also note the similarities between Glimmet with demosponges from the clade Cladorhizidae, and there are many species of sponges to use mineralized spicules as a way to deter predators. I will admit that I haven't really read all that much about sponge behaviour, and once I do, I'll probably update this paragraph a bit more. It really is very interesting that Glimmet and Glimmora live like deep-sea creatures, while living in a completely different biomes, in this case caves.
Speaking of inspirations for this species, some people have considered the copper mineral chalcanthite, or the 'copper bloom', as a possible inspiration for the rock crystal parts. While chalcanthite isn't any more poisonous than other copper compounds, if you eat it you'll still get copper poisoning! More dangerous is that the copper sulfate dust that it leaves behind (since those can get into your mouth less noticeably), which is also similar to Glimmet's Toxic Debris ability.
Far cooler, however, is the evolved form, Glimmora. The official artwork for Glimmora shows it in its 'closed-up' state, where it just looks like a weird swimming comb jelly or something, a weird closed-up flower with a little pokey head from which two eyes are glowing. But if you see Glimmora moving around in the wild or in battle, you get to see it in one of the two poses shown in the in-game Pokedex's page, with the petals spread wide like a massive flower-creature. In the wild, Glimmora will stab itself onto the walls of the subterranean cave walls, 'head' first, showing off the rest of its body which really does look like an exotic flower of sorts. Very, very cool, and, again, I really do love that a fair amount of the Paldean Pokemon really do feel like they are designed to interact with the environment of an open-world game.
As the dex notes, Glimmora's huge petals are made out of crystallized 'poison energy', and even the pokedex notes that these petals resemble the Tera Jewels that cause all sorts of wacky phenomenon in the Paldea region. Not coincidentally, while Glimmet can evolve naturally, wild Glimmora can only be found (and are very plentiful) in Area Zero, where all these Tera Crystals are located. Again, I really do like the visual imagery of these Glimmoras 'swimming' through the air as they plant themselves onto the cave walls, looking like some sort of alien deep-sea creature.
The flower part of Glimmora have been compared to the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) or the blue passion flower (Passiflora caerulea), both of which are blue-coloured poisonous flowers. It's a pretty creative design regardless if either, both or none of these flowers are the specific inspirations for Glimmora, combined with the reputation of Chalcanthite as 'copper bloom'.
5/6.#971-972: Greavard & Houndstone
Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? Yes you are, yes you are!!!
Greavard is our third (!) dog line this generation, and it's the most interesting! More interesting than angry mob boss dog and the pastry fairy dog for sure. This is a hairy dog with a fun, massive set of chompers... and it's also dead! And Greavard, being a good boy or girl, is so adorable that it's going to follow whoever that gives it attention forever. You can see that it's got a candle on top of its head, which looks remarkably similar to fellow ghost-type Litwick... and just like Litwick, Greavard will unknowingly drain the life-force of the human it hangs around with. Oh noes!
Greavard's backstory is kind of sad, too, with the dex entries noting that it used to be a dog Pokemon that died in the wild without ever interacting with a human, before being reborn as a Pokemon. If the in-game books are accurate (and they definitely are), one of the gym leaders, Ryme the DJ, literally resurrects her own dead dog into a Greavard with her song. A fun trope on the loyal-to-the-death dog trope. I also love that Greavard has also kind of taken over the role of a 'mimic' style Pokemon, burying itself in the ground so that only the tip of the candle is seen... and in the 3D engine, it looks like the sparkle of an item on the ground! The idea, of course, is that Greavards will pop out of the ground like zombies rising from the grave!
Also, the name is actually not based on 'grave' (I mistyped him as 'Graveard' so many times) but on greaves, which is a type of solid residue in the creation of tallow. The tallow is used to make candles (among others), while the greaves are historically used to make dog food.
Greavard evolves into Houndstone, and it's a lot less cute, but I still appreciate that it retains the massive set of underbite. Love your big dogs even when they're not puppies! More interestingly, though, is that after years and years, Houndstone is actually our first 'skeleton' Pokemon! The closest we ever get to a proper skeleton Pokemon are Cubone and Marowak; plus maybe Vullaby's accessories. I think this has to do with the censorship laws? But Houndstone's design with the shaggy fur does disguise it a bit. I say a bit, becuase those legs are clearly very bony, and that's before you take into account the segmented tail and the nose-hole on the skull.
Unlike Greavard's candle, Houndstone has a whole gravestone on top of its head, and if you take into account the hump of Houndstone's back, the appearance when Houndstone is buried does look like a burial mound with a grave marker. In-game, of course, only the gravestone is seen when Houndstone is hiding, but I do 'get' what they are going for with the darker shading.
There are a bunch of potential dog spirit inspirations from Spanish mythology, like the Pesanta or Dip, but I do really think that it's mostly a rather generic adaptation of an undead loyal happy dog. I really do like the trope, as a dog owner myself, about how this is a "lovingly mourned" dog that was reborn, and how it is always super-loyal to its master. It's a simple concept and design, admittedly, but... I'm a fan of this one. He's a good dog!
6/6. Would be 5/6, but they're good dogs, Brent.#973: Flamigo
We're closing off this page with something that's... not the most interesting. But the flamingo is yet another very common picture-book animal that doesn't have a Pokemon counterpart, and... we get a Fighting/Flying flamingo that's basically... a flamingo drawn funny. Or, well, more likely, one of those plastic flamingo lawn ornaments? Or a flamingo balloon? I like Flamigo a bit more than Squawkabilly because the super-thin legs and the tied-up neck are at least something. Also, a flamingo is at least something that looks distinct compared to the many small birds we already have in the game.
There are some rather weird dex entries about Flamigo, too, where the base of its neck is tied into a knot... "so that the energy stored in its belly does not escape from its beak". Hello? Okay? I don't get this joke and frankly the idea of your neck being tied into a knot sounds disturbing.
Like real-life flamingos, Flamigos also do the behaviour known as 'synchronizing'. In real life, flamingos do elaborate, synchronized courtship dances which actually look rather glorious if you look them up online. In Pokemon world, this translates to a flock of Flamigos attacking enemies simultaneously in perfect harmony, symbolized by its signature ability 'Co-Star', which allows it to copy an ally's stat changes when it enters battle. Anyway... yeah, it exists. I had to make sure I didn't typo 'flamingo' and 'Flamigo' so many times in these three paragraphs.
2/6.
This gen has certainly been a nice mix of cool, cute, and weird
ReplyDeleteI am really, really happy that we're getting back to a great mixture of it after the previous generation really ended up... well, honestly boring me with a lot of their designs? I know there are a couple of generations that I'm not the most fond of either (VI for sure, but that generation had a short dex) but I'm so happy we're back to form with this one.
DeleteFlamigo is used by Larry as an Elite Four.
ReplyDeleteAlso Palafin is considered to have some inspiration from the Boto. A South American legend about a Dolphin that can turn human.
Good catch! I completely forgot about Larry as an Elite Four! Will adjust accordingly.
DeleteI'm... I'm not entirely sure how much the Boto inspires the Finizen/Palafin line, personally, since it's not exactly from the locales that Paldea is based on, and the Finizen/Palafin line has so much Superman stuff baked onto their design and little details. I'll still add it in because it *is* a transforming dolphin myth, though!
Thanks for the feedback!
No problem for the feedback.
DeleteI just think Palafin is supposed to be an amalgamation of legends and ideas. It has the Boto part of transforming and the Greek legends of helping people. Then they added the Superman reference for the man known to love helping people. Not saying it's correct, but it makes some kind of sense.
You unlocked a memory of me digging up lugworms as a kid!
ReplyDeleteAs someone who lived near beaches, yeah! Both Orthworm and Wiglett do remind me of those, even if I know they're specifically based on other wiggly animals!
DeleteI dreamt about lugworms a few nights ago and refound this post!
Delete