Pokemon variations

[Dragoncat]

This is a thing that's been floating around lately. What's your opinion? Do you love it? Hate it? Depends? Are you going to make some too?

For those of you who live under a rock aren't aware:

That's an example. I've also seen it done with gogoat, lapras, omanyte, quilava...the list goes on and on. Each one takes the pokemon and redesigns it multiple times to look like different subspecies, like this artist made different mustelid furrets. It may or may not be accurate to real life. The quilava ones I've seen have yellow throated, ashy spotted, etc and they just look like stoats/weasels in body shape but not color.

I'm in the process of making some myself! I chose hoothoot and noctowl. Yes, both. Hopefully by doing the whole evolution line I'll encourage that from the people who made the other ones. There are a wide variety of owl species which I learned from reading Guardians of Gahoole. The ones I've chosen? Great horned, barn, screech, snowy, spotted, great gray. Great horned = common because it looks the closest to that.

Edited March 26, 2015 by Dragoncat

[Kon]

These Pokémon variations have always fascinated me. I really wish GameFreak would use the idea, since it would give so much more variety to their designs. I mean, even within the same breed of cat their are a lot of variations depending on where they live, their diets, and their lineage. It would be so amazing for even just some of the designs people have made to actually be in the games.

Oh, and speaking of redesigns, Cat&Crown has made some amazing variations on the Honedge line, Dragonite, and Kingdra

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/114366335967/i-have-had-these-designs-lying-around-for-nearly-a

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/113796605207/pokemonmorphology-dragonite-my-second-set-as

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/112814349757/pokemon-variations-kingdra-this-was-a-nice

Not bothering to vote in the poll. I don't enjoy such polarizing options, and the guilt tripping isn't soemething I'm keen on :/

[Maritisa]

I think pattern variations in pokemon are usually okay, but... It's color scheme modifications that throw me off. It feels like a reskin instead of just a different fur pattern. They're not as bad as sparklemon but they lurk dangerously close to that field and I HATE sparklemon.

[Dragoncat]

These Pokémon variations have always fascinated me. I really wish GameFreak would use the idea, since it would give so much more variety to their designs. I mean, even within the same breed of cat their are a lot of variations depending on where they live, their diets, and their lineage. It would be so amazing for even just some of the designs people have made to actually be in the games.

Oh, and speaking of redesigns, Cat&Crown has made some amazing variations on the Honedge line, Dragonite, and Kingdra

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/114366335967/i-have-had-these-designs-lying-around-for-nearly-a

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/113796605207/pokemonmorphology-dragonite-my-second-set-as

http://catandcrown.tumblr.com/post/112814349757/pokemon-variations-kingdra-this-was-a-nice

Not bothering to vote in the poll. I don't enjoy such polarizing options, and the guilt tripping isn't soemething I'm keen on :/

Agreed!

Seen the dragonite and kingdra, but not honedge. Kinda makes me sad that my idea of doing the whole line has been done before, but man, those are epic looking.

The poll...understandable xD

I think pattern variations in pokemon are usually okay, but... It's color scheme modifications that throw me off. It feels like a reskin instead of just a different fur pattern. They're not as bad as sparklemon but they lurk dangerously close to that field and I HATE sparklemon.

Omg, the sparkledog virus has spread to pokemon? KILL IT WITH FIRE.

Modifying the color scheme to fit the real life equivalent is okay though, right? I mean as long as we don't have rainbow umbreons or something...

[Captain Wesker]

That would be cool. Like a tiger Lipard, though it's hard to imagine a Dark-type being something other than purple or black.

Not counting shiny of course.

Edited April 7, 2015 by TheCanadianKeyblade

[Maritisa]

Yeah, that's the thing, and that's why I don't like most recolors. Most pokemon are given their palettes to suit their tyoe, so if you change it, something just... feels lost. Normal types get the most leeway here I'd say.

[Dragoncat]

I thought people had stopped posting in here.

Well, here's mine.

[TigerKatt]

Well Pokemon variations have been done without greatly altering the color palette. Latias is below; and the creator gave small descriptions to the background of each variation - quite clever! (Latios has been done too.)

[Maritisa]

Yeah see those kinds of variants I am absolutely fine with, especially since many pokemon have this problem where it's hard to tell if they've got fur or are just smooth... Lati@s are a good example, since they're implied to have a sort of down, but they're also shown to appear perfectly smooth, and numerous depictions imply a skin-like texture, including the games themselves. And then of course merch confuses this even more because what would a not-fuzzy plush be?

But I think it's totally fine for Pokemon to have variants in those cases like the above example, since it'd be hard to argue a universal answer due to the ambiguity of the matter canonically.

And, of course, color tints or (sensical) patterns are generally within the realm of reason as well. From having very pale colors to having very dark colors, so long as they're essentially the same colors... Patterns retaining the premise of the original are usually okay too. "Illuminated" gives me a "Huh?" on how those patterns exist, but they're subcolors and don't break the original's design like they would if, say, the red swirly thingies continued into the white area. Since the Lati are psychic aka magical though, bizarre patterns are slightly more acceptable on them than other pokemon.

I think minor body morphs like Sea might be okay, but that's something that is a lot harder to lay down a solid ground for because it'd vary so much between Pokemon. For Latias here it makes some sense, since her design is abstract enough to allow it, but also because in nearly every encounter they've got something to do with "Southern Island", implying they're indeed around water very much. So if a Latias lived much much more in water than the air, its body would likely accommodate as it grew. (What could usually be labeled as an "evolutionary" change in our world, which takes many generations, can likely happen in a pokemon in even one, with proper exposure, given their metamorphic nature.)

[TigerKatt]

That's true! Latias is a really flexible Pokemon to be able to work with, and the same goes for Latios where I believe the artist made the same variations plus one or two that were based on increasing speed. Illuminated and Fire Opal (I think) were built upon the assumption that multiple Latias (as seen with multiple Celebi/Shaymin etc.) could exist, and I suppose if they were conditioned for contests or royalty, it'd be enough an environmental stimuli for it to generate 'evolutionary change'?

As for complete body morphs, that's usually something done with abstract or psychic Pokemon fan arts, but tiny interesting variations do exist that I think are okay? I've seen Absol variations where they changed the coat, but also the horn to reflect its sensing capabilities/personality/battle prowess.

Generally for land-locked Pokemon the variations are just going to vary among coat patterns if not for an entire coat scheme change...and it'd be hard to come up with anything entirely original while keeping the design intact. But I think it'd be enough for an entirely personalized feel towards catching a particular Pokemon - like Spinda with its ever changing swirls. I'd really love to catch an Growlithe/own an Arcanine that had its completely unique coat pattern compared to a buddy :P

Maybe more could be done with the Pokemon inspired by inanimate objects/possession? I mean they could do a lot with Yamask masks, apart from the fact that it might make that a tad too scary xD

Edit - maybe they could do something for community based Pokemon like Braviary as well - its dex entries said Braviary hierarchy was based upon battle experience and often times scars were signs of pride or high power.

Edited April 18, 2015 by TigerKatt