Thread: What Pokémon are based on

Don't you think you're overanalyzing? I mean... the creators have their creative juices too, some pokemon can just be from their imagination, I don't think they were thinking "cedar waxwing" when they made Pidgey, it was probably more like stylizing a generic bird

And umm, Glalie is definitely just a hockey goalie's mask made of ice... don't you think "Onigoori" and "Glalie" are peculiar?

Originally Posted by redchesus

Don't you think you're overanalyzing? I mean... the creators have their creative juices too, some pokemon can just be from their imagination, I don't think they were thinking "cedar waxwing" when they made Pidgey, it was probably more like stylizing a generic bird

And umm, Glalie is definitely just a hockey goalie's mask made of ice... don't you think "Onigoori" and "Glalie" are peculiar?

Why would they embellish a "generic bird" by making it brown with a black mask, yellowish belly, and a head-tufty-thing (i.e. like a cedar waxwing)? Why couldn't they have been thinking "cedar waxwing"?

You know it looks like Getter Robo....
I have never seen a hockey mask that looks like that. (Then again, I don't watch hockey.) Show me some, and I might believe it. Then tell me where the horns come from....
Getter Robo

I don't know if I'm overanalyzing (on some I definitely may be), but unfortunatey, we don't have a book from the artists detailing what each is based on. If we did, that would be great. Until then, we can only look and guess. Plus, if someone wanted to draw a realistic version, it would be nice to know what to base it on. Sometimes, "dog", "bird", and "flower" won't cut it.

I realise I'm reviving a REALLY old thread, but I came across this thread by chance - and felt inspired, so I've been creating a true-to-life pokedex, what they would look like if they were real animals, based on all discussion on this thread, and a few other threads about - I've only got as far as Clefairy so far (takes time) - but I got stuck - because we don't really have anything clefairy is based on - and I was wondering if we would be able to fill in a few more of the gaps? Here's what I have so far: Any suggestion/improvements welcome!

Clefairy is based on fairies, obviously. oAo

Lol sure - but that's rather tricky to recreate, as there is no pictures on Google of any kind of fairies with any kind of resemblance to Clefairy/fable - I was wondering if, like some of the others, there might have been a particular inspiration for the specific image of Clefairy? As it's not like the kind of fairy I would picture in my mind (which is something more like tinkerbelle...)

Well, I'm making progress guys! I've got as far as Onix, having only skipped a few along the way (Gengar... difficult!!) And I'm excited, some of them I'm quite impressed with actually - whereas some of them, barely pass!!

Originally Posted by babydoll

Lol sure - but that's rather tricky to recreate, as there is no pictures on Google of any kind of fairies with any kind of resemblance to Clefairy/fable - I was wondering if, like some of the others, there might have been a particular inspiration for the specific image of Clefairy? As it's not like the kind of fairy I would picture in my mind (which is something more like tinkerbelle...)

How about a star for Clefairy? It came from space iirc, and its body is star-shaped too.

Tyranitar is based off of Godzilla, the Nidos are based off of Baragon, and Ditto is based off of a smiley face (according to GF, so your previous statement about Ditto is outdated).

Venonat, after a bit of research, more closely resembles a Red Velvet Mite (except... purple)

OK - I am struggling the most with the Puffs, the Fairies, Gengar, Kadabra, Alakazam, Poliwhirl & Poliwrath - these are not easy to recreate!

I reckon that Kadabra and Alakazam are like humanoid foxes, or Siamese cats.

Now on Bulbapedia, it says "Stunfisk seems to be based on a flounder or dab combined with an electric ray. It may also be based on the stargazer, another fish that spends most of its time buried in the sea bottom and can make electric discharges when disturbed."

Googling pictures of it, I see some resemblance. Personally, I think this (probably one of the most useless Electric Types) Pokémon is based off of the Torpedo Fish. If you google pictures of it (Torpedo Fish) you can see a major resemblance in shape, color, and size. It seems to be a mixture of the Torpedo Fish and the Stargazer. The Torpedo Fish is also an animal capable of producing 240V zaps. To me, it resembles more like the Torpedo Fish, as it's flatter, and it has more of its shape.

What do you guys think? Stargazer, Torpedo Fish, or something else?

Don't know about Stunfisk. It could be either.

Mawile is actually based on a japanese story in which a women called futakuchi-onna is basically starved by her husband, so she develops a second mouth with a mind of his own on the back of her head, eating away at the man's stored rice. There is a second story in which futakuchi-onna is actually cursed with the second mouth due to being a horrible stepmother. She let her step-child starve while keeping her own children well fed. After her step-child died, it's spirit attached to futakuchi-onna, forming the second mouth with it's own will, eating whatever it wants.

So yeah.

How do you feel about what each Pokemon is based on? or more specifically, the origins suggested on Bulbapedia.

In my opinion: Theres so many things that Gamefreak uses for the design of each Pokemon, its amazing! I read all of the ones on Bulbapedia, and I had an rough idea of what each Pokemon was based on...but I found out so many things about thier origin that I never would've even THOUGHT of before, and likely what many others wouldn't have noticed. They've given me so many more ideas for my game as well. The name origins as well, the wordplay is incredible! with both the japanese AND all other translation names! Gamefreak is just SO clever!! :D

So what are your opinions on what each Pokemon is based on? Not thier appearances,fighting stats,movesets,abilities etc, but the ideas incorporated into them.

- The only resemblance I see between Charmander and a salamander (besides the name) is the fire connotation... he just looks like a generic bipedal dinosaur. Also, Charmelon doesn't exactly look like a hadrosaur to me.
- Beedrill is most likely a Japanese giant hornet
- Jigglypuff is a ballon, however, it's also pudding. Its prototype name literally was "Pudding" and its Japanese name is "purin" which is the same name as the Flan enemy in Final Fantasy... my guess is that Jigglypuff is sort of the Pokémon equivalent to the Flan (both being weak and somewhat an early encounter, although Jigglypuff is far less common)
- Paras might also have a connection to a parasitoidal fungus ( Entomopathogenic fungus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )... there are some species of fungi that infect insects. Except Paras isn't harmed in any way so it's not really the same as any real-world fungus.
- Psyduck doesn't seem at all like a platypus to me. He just looks like an anthropomorphic generic yellow duck (probably anthropomorphized due to his evolution being a kappa)
- The Abras are obviously a reference to magicians / psychics. They're even named after famous magicians / psychics in the Japanese version.
- I'm not seeing the dilphosaur thing at all for the Machops other than the head crest which could really be anything...
- Slowpoke - I always thought they looked like hippos but I also thought hermit crab due to Slowbro's entry. Either way, both are amphibious so it makes sense. However, someone pointed out that they're actually sazae-oni which makes perfect sense (there was a similar-looking Digimon as well) so I'm gonna go with that.
- Shellder, after clamping onto a Slowpoke, is the sazae (Turbo cornutus)
- Tauros just seems like a bull, not a bison
- Ditto is that famous yellow smiley face, according to Bulbapedia according to some interview
- I don't think the Porygons are based on anything in particular... Porygon is primitive A.I. (represented by a low-poly model), Porygon2 is improved A.I. (represented by a high-poly model), and Porygon-Z is a hacked A.I. (represented by the high-poly model but crazy-looking)
- I don't think Kabutops is a mantis at all... I think the blades are just the pointy part of the trilobite (but exaggerated). Alternatively, the Kabutos may have been based on the horseshoe crab which were also around in prehistoric times. It's actually always looked more to me like a horseshoe crab but missing the tail.
- Aerodactly is a pterodactyl (well, its English name... its Japanese name makes it seem like a generic pterosaur). It's also probably influenced by some sort of dragon.
- Snorlax is Totoro I think. They look sort of the same and they were both sleeping and stuff.
- Mewtwo was based on Giygas from Earthbound. He also looks sort of like Frieza from Dragon Ball Z... probably just coincedence. Also I heard that Game Freak planned on including a Dolly the sheep Pokémon but abandoned it because it was controversial... but that may have had an influence on the design of Mewtwo as well... maybe... just a guess.

- I always thought Rayquaza may have a connection to Quetzalcoatl. Maybe just coincidence but they're both similarly-colored giant serpent-like things and both have some of the same letters in the names.