I’ve always thought their reasoning for Dark and Ghost was something along those lines, yeah. I didn’t originally tie Bug in with that, but it becomes pretty clear when you look at the ability ‘Rattled.’ As for the meaning of all those types… well, there are only a few that I associate with more abstract ideas like that (definitions for Fire, Water, Grass and so forth are really quite straightforward). I sort of think that, if more types were defined in that kind of way, there’d be a lot more freedom in designing new Pokémon, because you can tie a Pokémon’s element to its personality rather than its specific powers. Still, here are a few:
Fighting – ‘honour’ is part of it, but I don’t think it covers all Fighting-types; I think that Fighting Pokémon are the ones who are most like humans in their attitude to combat. They’re the most likely to fight for a cause, the most likely to consider fighting a skill worthy of exaltation, and the most likely to spend a lot of time training. Some, like Poliwrath, are more about athletics than combat, but they still have a more human than animal view.
Ghost – I think that a lot of Ghost Pokémon aren’t actually ghosts per se. Some clearly are, but I believe most of them simply have the name because they have powers related to death, the dead, and fear of death.
Dark – Dark is tricky, because there is something of an instinct that it should represent actual physical darkness, and Umbreon (one of the only five Dark Pokémon who existed in Gold and Silver) is very strongly associated with the moon and the night, the way Espeon is connected with the day. These characteristics aren’t actually shared by most Dark-types, though. The Japanese name literally translates to “evil type” and that’s the unifying theme of it: Dark Pokémon have abilities related to treachery, malice, fear, and brutality. This is not to say that they are universally evil – but they are pragmatic, and likely to use methods we might associate with evil.
Dragon – Back in Gold and Silver, one of Clair’s gym trainers described Dragon-types as “Pokémon that are overflowing with life energy” (or words to that effect) and that’s the definition I’ve used since then. Dragon-types aren’t necessarily connected with any one cultural stereotype of what constitutes a ‘dragon’ (just look at Altaria, Kingdra, Vibrava, and Shelgon). They are what they are because they have a special connection to some sort of ‘life force’ (which, I will remind you, is a very real thing in the Pokémon universe), and this is the source of their spectacular powers, incredible vitality and long lives.
Does all that sound reasonable? I’m sorry I don’t quite have what you asked for, but for most types it really is a lot simpler than this! There are definitely ways you could shift some other types in that direction, though – associating each Psychic Pokémon with an aspect of the human mind, for instance, or broadening the associations for Fire (which, at present, normally has only connotations of speed and destruction) to include warmth, nurturing, creativity, and passion.
Generally allies of the protagonists, the Chee are a race of pacifistic doglike androids who have been hidden on Earth for thousands of years, quietly helping humanity to advance. They were created by an ancient, now-extinct species called the Pemalites, and subsequently fused the souls of the Pemalites with Earth wolves in order to create domestic dogs (this is the in-universe reason dogs are so friendly and loyal). The Chee have advanced holographic technology that makes them the ultimate spies, and allows them to cover for the kids at home when they go off on extended missions. Physically, they’re also incredibly powerful. However, their programming utterly forbids them from harming living beings – or even, in some cases, from allowing living beings to be harmed. Since the Yeerks are, in fact, living beings, this sometimes limits the amount of help the Chee are able to give.
The Leerans are one of the other races the Yeerks are attempting to conquer during the early part of the series. A froglike aquatic species from a distant world, the Leerans possess formidable psychic powers and can effortlessly read the mind of anyone who comes within a few metres of them. Naturally, if the Yeerks manage to conquer them and Leeran hosts become widely available, everyone is in a lot of trouble.
Oh, the Helmacrons… the Helmacrons are a diminutive race of megalomaniacal insectoids. Although their average battlecruiser is the size of a child’s toy, the Helmacrons are determined to conquer the galaxy, remaining convinced that they are its rightful rulers. During their appearances in the series, they manage to adapt the kids’ morphing technology into a shrink ray of some description, to allow them to fight other races on a level footing (for this reason, I’m going to assume when statting them out that the Helmacrons are dealing with opponents of their own size; doing otherwise would be too much of a headache). They are a matriarchal race, with stunted, weak and subservient males and loud, aggressive and utterly insane females (the Animorphs manage to start the Helmacron equivalent to the suffrage movement after their first encounter with them, which leads, naturally, to zany antics). Among their… interesting… customs is their practice of ceremonially killing any Helmacron chosen for a leadership position, on the grounds that a dead leader cannot make any mistakes.
The inventors of the technology that allows the kids to morph into animals, the Andalites are an advanced race of militaristic but highly spiritual centaur-like aliens who basically see it as their responsibility to police the regions of space surrounding their territory and generally stick their noses in other people’s business. They are extremely aloof and typically disdainful of less advanced species. Andalites have no mouths. They eat by crushing grass and absorbing it through their hooves, and communicate by telepathy. One of the Animorphs, Ax, is an Andalite cadet stranded on Earth.
The Yeerks are the primary antagonists of the series. In their natural state, they are small water-dwelling slugs who communicate using sonar blips and can’t do much of anything. Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, however, Yeerks are parasites capable of entering other creatures’ brains through the ear canal and taking complete control of their bodies. Much of the series focuses on fighting off their stealth invasion of Earth, which is an incredibly rich prize for them because of its massive population of potential hosts.
The Hork-Bajir are the slave-soldiers of the Yeerk Empire. Pretty much their entire population is infested by Yeerks, who use their vicious arm blades to slice up their opposition in close-combat. What the Animorphs don’t realise until some time into the series is that Hork-Bajir in their natural state are incredibly peaceful, if dim-witted, herbivores. Their culture didn’t even have a concept of aggression until they were conquered by the Yeerks (at which point the Andalites released a crazy sci-fi face-melting virus on their planet to keep the Yeerks from getting them all). Those terrifying blades? Those are for stripping the bark off the massive, kilometer-high trees that dominate their homeworld.
Pokémaniacal 