Never Our Equals: On Pokémorph Fanfiction

As is fairly evident from my signature, I write works featuring pokémorphs. I find the concept fascinating; reconciling the human and pokémon elements of morph characters gives a unique opportunity to explore such themes as what it means to be human, the boundaries of sentience, purpose, personal worth and identity.

Sadly, not all pokémorph fanfiction bothers to do much other than spew superpowered angsting Mary Sues. That and the perceived association with the furry fandom seem to be issues that mar the reputation of this genre - subgenre? - which I believe has a great deal of potential.

So, might I ask what attitude people here generally have towards morph fics, whether there are any good ones in circulation, and whether a new one might be received positively?

Any thoughts on the subject in general are of course welcome~

I think Pokemorphs are a great idea, but that may be because I love gijinkas. I greatly enjoy the idea of a Pokemon in a humanoid body, the ramifications of such a thing, and the effects on Pokemon physiology and behavior in a humanoid body. For example, would a growlithe be able to track and hunt? Would a flying type's humanoid form have the powerful muscles necessary for flight? Would a humans body physiology make the high temperatures required by fire pokemon impossible to attain? Pokemorph fics give me all kinds of fascinating ideas.

Damn, you like touching upon such subjects as me. I have long been planning this story where some of the characters have "magical" traits reminiscent of pokemon's powers, which will thus cover such subjects - though there is no distinct pokemorphing going on there (it might be featured, though not as a main concept of the story).

Aah, the angsty mary sues. I found myself having a hard time avoiding them when I first started writing (I enjoy tackling philosophical concepts, but doing so without making them either too angsty or too unrealistically insightful is a fine line often), but when done right it's quite pleasing to read/write however.

The same goes for pokemorphing; it really, really allows one to explore the deeper concepts of existence, such philosophical questions I could find myself writing about and discuss all day long! I don't mind a fic that has a more lighthearted take on it, though, so long as it's tackled well - such a serious concept need not such serious thoughts to be interesting (but it helps). I've seen a few good pokemorph fics, but none I actually remember now (it's a long, long time sine I actually read fanfiction).

Truthfully, I have no problem with "Pokemorph" so long it doesn't end up turning into some kind of taboo romance, or furry, or as you said "spew superpowered angsting Mary Sues" that will repel me, and I'll end up dropping such a fic.

But when you said "explore such themes as what it means to be human, the boundaries of sentience, purpose, personal worth and identity" that got me thinking and I'm pretty interested to see how you might execute such a fic.

I've already read the first chapter of "Different Eyes" and I love you're writing so far -btw sorry I just found out you don't like generic reviews... and I gave you one XD- I promise to give you one with constructive praise and critique, as soon as I can get the time to read the next chapters.

I don't tend to be interested in Pokémorph fics, although it's not an especial aversion to them.

I suppose it's because after reading what little I did of the original Animorphs, I just found that their constant shifting back and forth between two bodies started to distract from the story. (The first book, The Invasion, did a good job with this, but then again, it's the first book out of 54.) Either the description of morphing/demorphing would start to become terse and bland, or it would take up 40% of the narrative and block out other things.

Pokémorph is hard to do well, that much is clear. It's not always so much that the characters become super-angsty "Mary Sues" (although I thought we agreed that that label was harmful), but that the descriptions of them tend to not turn out so well.

Meanwhile, the part of Pokémorph that you mention is related to the furry fandom isn't so much Pokémorph as it is something called "TF", which means "transformation". Usually (at least in my experience) when a furry fic is written about a human turning into a Pokémon, the change is permanent and the emphasis of the story is on the transformation itself, rather than its consequences.

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Originally Posted by Smuglord

shifting back and forth between two bodies

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I think I've failed to effectively communicate here, as this is quite a significant misunderstanding. I meant anthro morphs. Hybrids. Not shape shifters. Sorry for the confusion.

SaFE: No worries, generic reviews are fine, it's just that if I'm being asked for one in return as part of an exchange, they then become impolite. So you're good~

I think I should probably elaborate more on the topic myself. I'll make an edit later.

I have no problem with pokemorph fics, but I know a lot of people do due to the cliches that surround them. That, and humans tend to, by nature, just ignore things that are completely out of the ordinary and/or aren't part of the social norm. It mainly seems to be an issue of being open minded and allowing yourself to be vulnerable to experiences that don't directly relate to you. I applaud anyone who actually tries pokemorph fics (or anything out of the ordinary, for that matter).

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Originally Posted by unrepentantAuthor

I think I've failed to effectively communicate here, as this is quite a significant misunderstanding. I meant anthro morphs. Hybrids. Not shape shifters. Sorry for the confusion.

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Said "anthro morph" fiction would fall straight into the furry fandom category. You may not be a member of the furry fandom, but your fic certainly can be categorized under it by that indication alone.

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Originally Posted by Smuglord

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Originally Posted by unrepentantAuthor

I think I've failed to effectively communicate here, as this is quite a significant misunderstanding. I meant anthro morphs. Hybrids. Not shape shifters. Sorry for the confusion.

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Said "anthro morph" fiction would fall straight into the furry fandom category. You may not be a member of the furry fandom, but your fic certainly can be categorized under it by that indication alone.

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Please, point out the part of my post where I was talking about whether I was or wasn't in the furry fandom.

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I suppose it's because after reading what little I did of the original Animorphs, I just found that their constant shifting back and forth between two bodies started to distract from the story. (The first book, The Invasion, did a good job with this, but then again, it's the first book out of 54.) Either the description of morphing/demorphing would start to become terse and bland, or it would take up 40% of the narrative and block out other things.

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Well then I guess it's a good thing that he's not talking about that eh? The story is about the characters and somewhat about the consequences of their transformation. It's not about being furry or not, it's about characters and what it means to be human.

But more importantly, we're talking about anthromorphic characters who have become hybrid - part human, part pokemon, not shape-shifters. About the consequences of being part human and part pokemon and whether humanity is determined by genetics or something deeper. It looks to me like you're objecting to a fault that isn't even present in the conversation - the overly consuming descriptions of physical transformation.

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Originally Posted by unrepentantAuthor

Please, point out the part of my post where I was talking about whether I was or wasn't in the furry fandom.

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Your assertion at the beginning of chapter 2 of said fic, for starters.

And anyway, it doesn't matter if you are or not. What Smuglord is saying is that, whether it was your intention or not, your story can be categorized as "furry."

On the subject at hand, it doesn't bother me any. Then again, I'm used to writing non-human characters and shapeshifters, so the idea of a blend of two different things and the struggles it causes aren't exactly anything new to me.

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Originally Posted by Feliciano

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Originally Posted by unrepentantAuthor

Please, point out the part of my post where I was talking about whether I was or wasn't in the furry fandom.

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Your assertion at the beginning of chapter 2 of said fic, for starters.

And anyway, it doesn't matter if you are or not. What Smuglord is saying is that, whether it was your intention or not, your story can be categorized as "furry."

On the subject at hand, it doesn't bother me any. Then again, I'm used to writing non-human characters and shapeshifters, so the idea of a blend of two different things and the struggles it causes aren't exactly anything new to me.

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The specific post that Smuglord was quoting had no relevance to that issue.

Personally, I really like PokeMorph fics. To me though, Pokemorph is to transform from one body to another. I am interested to rea your fic and see what Pokemorph is exactly to you. like @SaFE; said, some cliche romance morph story becomes old after awhile. Pokemorphs to most people battle it out with eachother, not get all lovey dovey. I am excited to reading your story. :D

KantoMasta, while "pokémorph" has in the past connoted transforming characters, in this context and in most cases, it denotes anthropomorphic hybrids. And while I'm not one to write romance, and never convention twaddle at that, neither do I write gratuitous battling. Hope that's not a disappointment.

I'm a big fan of Gijinka/PokéMorph fanfiction when it doesn't turn into angsty Mary-Sue with god-like powers.
I'd say more, but I already posted on the topic of the same name over at Serebii, so...