Thread: On the Origin of Species: Charmander: Investigating the inspirations behind Pokémon

This was a great read! Charmander was my first pokemon EVER, so it's nice to read
about what inspired it. ^_^

Gotta love that wierd lzard thing. XD

lol...all hail the mexican serebii-wooper, the salamander that never grows up =D....lol

Seriously! XD
Mye, I'm getting posts so I get more benefits.
Gimme about an hour. XD
Or make a topic I can post in some. XD

It will always be Charmander to me. I tend to get real-life animals mixed up with pokemon... xD

Originally Posted by Bikini Miltank

As for Charmander's reptilian/saurian features: bear in mind that its species name is the Lizard Pokemon, and the Japanese term for salamander (well, one of them) means "fire lizard". Even though Pliny the Elder figured out that salamanders weren't lizards, this idea wasn't incorporated into mainstream science until relatively recently. As such, various cultures have thought of salamanders as lizards for hundreds of years, and I think this informs our portrayal of them (in much the same way that hyenas often get drawn with wolf-like features).

Oh, by the way, when I was searching for images of salamanders as portrayed in the Final Fantasy series, guess what I found?



Does this remind you of anything?

Trippy.
... You said not to trust this, so I should and not, so I should and do so, so I should and not, so I should do so,...
AAAUUUGGGGHHH!!! Mind Screw this is.

I have one for you....
Compare Magikarp and Gyrados to the legend of dragon's gate. In it, a fish would be able to transform into a dragon.

Also, compare Zangoose to David Bowie. LOL

Well, I knew Charmander's concept was based on the mythical salamander but IMO, Charmander's relation with salamanders stops there. I always saw Charmander's physical appearance as that of a common lizard and I still think it's physically more based on small lizards than salamanders (even mythical ones)... it has claws, fangs and a tail just like small lizards and its highest base stat is speed which is something the small lizards are good at.

Isn't it just based on a bulb?