So, I don’t know if I was making myself clear enough in this process of creating a Pokémon, so people have been getting a bit confused over what I was wanting, and on top of that I think I chose a really awful time to do it, since people were busy with Christmas and the New Year and such (including me), so I want to take a moment to recap where we are at the moment.
Here’s what’s happened so far:
1. I decide that my readers are going to create a Pokémon, as a team effort, for my amusement.
2. I take submissions on the Pokémon’s type, and hold couple of polls to narrow down the choices. Eventually we decide on Water/Fire. I have a feeling people started voting for that one in large numbers because I expressed a preference for it, which may have been a mistake in retrospect, but it’s what we’ve got so let’s stick with it for now.
3. I ask for suggestions and discussion on how to interpret Water/Fire as a type combination. At this stage I was trying to avoid actually designing a Pokémon, and instead just think of interesting ways of using the elements together in a way that could work with any of several designs (I think maybe I wasn’t clear enough about what I didn’t want at this stage). I decide not to hold a poll on this, and just retain all the ideas for posterity. Think of it as a brainstorming session. The results are here: http://pokemaniacal.tumblr.com/post/38613760900/yay-discussion. Please do have a read of these before doing anything else! The final design does not have to use all or even any of these concepts, but I think they’ll provide helpful inspiration!
4. I ask for people to start coming up with actual, concrete design ideas – no artwork yet, but written descriptions of a Pokémon’s appearance and powers, and anything else particularly important to what you have in mind. This seems to be where we got stuck, so I’ll include here the ideas I’ve received so far that matched what I was asking for. What I’m hoping for now is that people will continue to submit paragraphs like this in the comments, and that other people will discuss those ideas and suggest ways to improve them. Once that’s been going on for a while, I’ll create another poll so we can choose a single design to work with, and the next step will be to open the floor to any artists who want to take a crack at drawing this thing. Anyway, here’s what I’ve got so far:
From Finger1st: use a base model of a fish crab lobster or whatnot and have it live in a tropical area near islands with volcanoes. It’ll eat lava and stay close to surface of water to absorb sunlight to feed off of. Then have it use physical fire attacks like flare blitz which would make more sense than a flamethrower under water. Kind of like its excreting the excess lava. Also since it would feed on lava water gun wouldn’t make sense either so aqua tail or jet would also work. It could possibly be a hermit crab and use spinning attacks like fire spin, whirl pool, rapid spin,etc with an occasional apperence on land kind of amphibious.
From Adam Dreifus: I was thinking perhaps of something based off of the giant tube worm. Maybe the first form lives deep on the sea floor, where the intense water pressure crushes it into a tiny shape (represented by it being a small creature with an incredibly disproportionately high weight. The second form could be some sort of massive Cloverfeld-esque kaiju thing, it’s back covered in firey wormlike growths. There are a lot of potential ways of taking it. Perhaps it is normally trapped underwater by the terrible pressure, but the burst of heat it releases from its back can occasionally bust it loose, where it rises to reek untold havok on the neighboring shoreline. Or maybe play up the siren angle more. It uses the wormlike growths as lures to draw in sailors and seagoing pokemon in order to feed. Maybe it is some kind of Pokemon equivalent of Charybdis, where the alternating currents of hot and cool water that it releases results in a terrifyingly large whirlpool, and resultingly it is the cause of all sorts of superstition and ghost stories among seagoing folk.
In a similar vein, from Random Access: To elaborate on the tube worm design. I was thinking we should give it a fiery mane, which would look kind of like the red plumes that comes out of its mouth, except it would be around its head. Its bottom a slimy blob-like appendage which looks a lot like lava, that way if there’s a group of them it would look like they were all sticking out of a lake of lava. Unlike the tube worm, though, I think we should give it expressive eyes, ones that always look agitated because they always only want to be left alone on the sea floor.
As for characteristics, I was thinking it feeds on the energy of underwater volcanoes. I also have a really cool idea that it has a symbiotic relationship with other deep-sea pokemon. You see, the more these tube worm pokemon (lets just call them ventorms for now) feed on the volcano’s heat, the less likely the volcano is to erupt due to decreased pressure. Because of this, the other pokemon continually bring it food from the ocean’s surface in order to promote their continual growth, sort of relating it to the way real tube worms rely on bacteria from the surface to provide them with necessary compounds. However, pokemon should never come near it without a food offering as a ventorm will take this as a challenge and immediately attack the unfortunate loiterer. Ventorms also always expel extreme heat from their mouths in their attempt to relieve themselves of excess heat.
From Chewiana Jones: What if we had an enormous squid/oil lamp hybrid that lived deep in arctic oceans, getting most of its nutrients from volcanic vents and small deep-sea Pokemon prey and burning oil (for warmth) in small amounts inside its body, which could look somewhat steampunk furnace-ish structure with more organic parts like the eyes and mouth mixed in and a body made of translucent, durable membrane with golden light shining through, supported by a skeletal framework. However, when it starts to run low on oil, it flares up its flames and rises like a hot air balloon to closer to the surface. There, it hunts pokemon like Walrein and Dewgong by expelling oil like squid ink and then lighting it on fire, then eats them and uses the oil for more power.
From 4Dragons: So my idea was a two headed lizard, one head for swallowing lava, one for water. It has two seperate digestive systems and two tails. With one tail it can blast a hyperpressure blast of water, with it’s other it radiates extreme heat. When it blasts it water through it’s heat it makes steam jets. It can use it’s tails seperatly too, when it has no lava it has to use water and the same for when it has no water, it has to use lava. It lives wherever it has relativly easy acess to both, basicly on small volcanic islands.
From Andrewq: 1. Charybdis the sea monster. She kind of looks like a Kraken, all mouth and pointy teeth with tons of tentacles or flippers (if she doesn’t live in the water, which is a possibility). In Greek mythology, Charybdis swallowing and spitting out tons of water results in whirlpools in a narrow strait, but we could have instead a boiler-like belly that heats the water before it is Scald-ed out. That way, alternating currents of hot and cold water create the maritime disasters. Charybdis-mon lives in a remote cave accessible by the sea and wreaks havoc on passing ships because she’s always hungry. After she appeared, the port town she terrorized was abandoned and became a haunt of Ghost-types, who also enjoy the shrouding factor of the steam that rises continually from her whirlpools. You know how in Harry Potter, the Revulsion Jinx (“Relashio”) sends out fiery sparks if you’re on land, but a jet of boiling water if you’re underwater? I can imagine a signature move that operates like Scald if you’re battling in a wet environment but like Flamethrower if you’re high and dry.
2. Flaming alcohol-mon was created by accident in a laboratory explosion. He looks like a glowing glass beaker (not radioactive, though) and probably floats, a bit eerily. This little guy can manipulate a special kind of clear liquid that can douse fires or itself be lit on fire. You could call it flammable water… or vodka… Yet it tries in vain to put out any fire it ever sees, conscious of fire’s devastating potential. Poor guy. The hope is that if he gets stronger, he will be able to put out more fires. Flash Fire is probably a must, maybe Water Absorb or even Guts, as well.
From Crazedgamer111: My idea was the lava and water Pokemon that is either split down the middle or at the waist. I prefer at the waist because I like the “belt” idea I had. The upper and lower half of its body mix together to solidy into an earthy belt-like portion on its waist. Im thinking the name, Girdlearth, is fitting. Pronounced Gurd-learth.
Girdlearths are capable of varying extremes of emotion and strength because of their varying elements are work. Trained properly, Girdlearths can balance the opposing forces (through the use of it’s ‘belt’) and be a Pokemon of great love, companionship, and strength.
—————————————–
There’s actually a fair few of these, but they were sort of scattered through the comment sections to several different posts, which made them difficult to work with and kept people from discussing them (again, I think because I wasn’t clear enough about what I didn’t want in the previous stage). Continue to create new ideas if you haven’t suggested one already, and if you can think of a way to improve an existing one, speak up! Also, if I’m still not explaining this adequately, someone, please ask me! Bear in mind that I have no idea what I’m doing here!
Next episode of the White 2 playthrough journal will be up tomorrow; this whole business of the announcement of X and Y has disrupted my plans a little by giving us all so much to think about. See you then!
Pokémaniacal 