Category: Pokémon Design Questions

Anonymous asks:

would you want a wolf Pokemon and should it evolve at night only? How would you make a wolf Pokemon?

Well, it would make a sort of sense to have one in the generation calling its games “Sun” and “Moon,” wouldn’t it?  Given the general symbolism of wolves as lunar animals in European folklore, anyway.  Then again, I think the themes that would be my go-to ideas for a wolf Pokémon have been ‘done’ elsewhere – like, Zoroark already kinda works as a ‘werewolf’ Pokémon despite being a fox and not a wolf because of its powers of darkness and ability to appear as a human, and Mightyena already deals with the teamwork theme that would be inspired by wolves’ pack hunting skills, despite being a hyena and not a wolf.  That’s not to say you couldn’t still do one, just that I’d probably try to go with something a lot more offbeat, like these guys.  I’m not sure off the top of my head what I would go with.

Anonymous asks:

Which other legendaries do you think are likely to get Primal forms?

Well, at the moment, none.  I mean, I always avoid spoilers in the lead-up to new Pokémon games, so maybe I’m out of the loop on something that’s been revealed for Sun and Moon, but so far I feel like we’ve been given every reason to think that primal reversion is something specific to Groudon and Kyogre.

Anonymous asks:

If you could give any Pokemon a Mega Evolution, which would you choose?

I have a sort of rationale for this, which I outline here… basically I think mega evolutions should go to Pokémon 1) who are weak primarily because their stats are low, and 2) are unlikely ever to receive a conventional evolution.  Suggestions I put forward there are Ledian, Bibarel, Delcatty, and Plusle and Minun (disclaimer: I avoid spoilers on new Pokémon games, so if one or more of those Pokémon is getting a mega evolution in Sun and Moon, I don’t know and I don’t want to).  We could also add, perhaps, Seaking to that list, for most of the same reasons, and maybe Zangoose and Seviper (whose base stats are high enough that they seem unlikely to ever get regular evolutions, but not high enough for them to actually do anything).

Anonymous asks:

So I saw in one of your recent answers to a question, that you hated Dedenne, and I was just wondering why exactly you hate her? Mostly because I really like her design, and also that she is the only competitively viable Pika-Clone imo due to my Mono-Electric team, where she pulls her own weight pretty well.

Well… I didn’t use the word “hate” and I honestly don’t think I ever have with respect to Dedenne.  She is in some respects more deserving of respect than her predecessors.  Honestly, though, I’ve gotta say that your own endorsement of her as the only competitively viable Pikachu clone is a) not exactly saying much, and b) probably not true; if anyone’s earned that title it’s Pachirisu.  Ultimately, I would have thought that the rest of the post you’re referencing would have made my problem with Dedenne perfectly obvious: it’s not even her fault, really, I just get seriously rubbed up the wrong way by “template” Pokémon, when Game Freak decides to make the same damn Pokémon again and again because it worked so well the first time.  I’ve been done with the whole Pikachu clone thing as a basic idea for about three generations now, and Dedenne did nothing to change my mind.  If you particularly wish to know my thoughts on her in excruciating detail, you can find them here.

The Philosophical Sheep asks:

Wouldn’t swalot be muk 2.0? And garbodor be 3.0?

Well, yes and no.  Swalot’s kinda dull, don’t get me wrong, and in terms of being a Poison-type blob it’s more or less the same idea.  Swalot’s schtick is different, though, in that it doesn’t have Muk’s industrial pollution theme – it’s a totally 100% natural formless blob – and instead is defined mainly by being essentially an ambulatory stomach with a face.

Anonymous asks:

Hopfé, the Two Brews Pokémon. Water/Fairy. The liquid inside Hopfé’s transparent body changes depending on the time of day. In the morning, it’s dark and scalding, while at night, it turns cold and effervescent. Some trainers claim to be Hopfé connoisseurs and refuse to bond with any but a very particular strain of the Pokémon.

It’s… coffee that turns into beer?  Um… why?

Gotta say, though, I think this could be hilarious in a comedic or satirical take on Pokémon.  Detective Pikachu played by Danny DeVito would approve.

Anonymous asks:

Maybe the “different franchises” thing was an exaggeration, but you can’t deny that overall Pokemon have gotten much less natural. Besides oddballs like Mr. Mime or Voltorb, first gen Pokemon looked like real creatures and now they’re like action figures.

I believe you’ll find I can deny anything that I think is untrue.  We agree the style is different, but I would never have thought to describe it in terms of being more or less naturalistic; that varies from one design to another but I don’t think there’s an overall trend across generations.  I honestly have no idea what “like action figures” even means in this context.

Anonymous asks:

How do you feel about how much more cartoon Pokemon designs have gotten lately? Most of them don’t even look like they’re from the same franchise as the original 151.

I think maybe some of your phrasing here needs dissecting – like, calling one of two groups “more cartoon” is an extremely vague way of comparing them when both of them objectively are cartoons.  I would understand “more cartoonish” to mean something along the lines of… probably more zany, more “out there,” less naturalistic, and I honestly don’t think that would be a remotely fair assessment.  Voltorb and Electrode, I think, are some of the most cartoonish Pokémon of any generation.  But maybe we’re understanding the words differently.

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Anonymous asks:

I had an argument with a friend way back when Pokemon first came out. He thought I was wrong when I referred to Pokemon like Vileplume and Venusaur as ‘Grass-Type’ because he thought the type was called ‘Leaf-Type.’ Someone confirmed I was right and that was the end of that. But that’s something that stuck with me. Wouldn’t ‘Leaf-Type’ make a little more sense? Or even better, calling it ‘Wood-Type?’

I think “Plant-type” would have made the most sense, really.  A lot of the languages that the games are translated into go that way, actually – Type Plante in French, Typ Pflanze in German, Tipo Planta in Spanish.  The Japanese 草 or くさ (kusa) really does seem to literally mean “grass” though, as far as I can tell, and Grass is what it’s been for twenty years now, so I doubt they’re ever likely to change it at this point.