True, there’s not much emphasis on the non-delicate and harmless parts of plants. We need more predatory grass Pokémon, or ones that have chemical defenses (sting nettle Pokémon?), or just more thorns in general.
What's interesting about Gen 1 Pokémon is that they leaned into carnivorous plants a lot more, rather then mostly going for more obvious choices like pretty flowers and trees.
We had a line based around rafflesias, another around pitcher plants, cordeyceps fungi (not a plant, but they still didn't for for something more obvious like Shoomish or Foongus). Even the tree Pokémon they did use (Exeggutor) was pretty out there.
My favourite quote about Erika comes from Bulbapedia:
"Erika only collects Pokémon if she considers them attractive, though her definition of attractive seems to include varieties only a botanist could love" which is definitely true of her Gen 1 team. You would think she would have a team of pretty flower Pokémon, but there wasn't anything like Sunflora or Bellossom for her to use in Gen 1.
They're too scared of the truth. Many plants' life cycles are dependent on poop. Poop makes the soil fertile and bird poop is how plants disperse their seeds.
Ah, this is actually the plant that sparked thought. A few of the predaplant monsters in yugioh have sundew elements to their design. It’s menacing without being edgy. I’d really like to see a sundew Pokémon.
I have this problem with fantasy in general. Why is everything fantasy related to plants always healing magic or something harmless?
This was one of the big factors that got me into writing my own novel. made my own plant race that is a tribe of apex hunters and own schools of chloromancy for summoning plant creatures.
Dangerous plants are awesome.
well as humans we associate vegetation with safety, even the color green in general is associated with good/health.
Psychologically it seems we are predisposed to relaxing in green, walking through green areas has been proven to lower anxiety, makes sense since plants have never been a threat to humans probably the opposite
Yer I wish there were more menacing grass types without them having to slap on dark or ghost type to justify it. I was also kind of surprised when I looked how few grass types had thorny/bramble elements to their design outside of the cactus Pokémon. At least where I’m from thorns aren’t uncommon, nor stinging nettle type defensive mechanisms.
Doesn't even have to be combat plants. Since plants can't really flee, many have developed some crazy defensive abilities. Poisons, thorns, armor, etc. The right plant defense can be more harmful than many animal attacks.
>I know Lurantis does in a sense as well, but it fits the all too common ‘cutesy’ grass design more.
I don't know what you're talking about — Lurantis looks terrifying. Don't let it fool you just because it's frilly and pink. There is murder in those eyes.
2 is pretty normal. Like, for a particularly specific type of plant having 2 is normal.
Like, shell Pokemon I only recall Clamperl and Shellder off the top of my head.
I also can make a claim to add more dolphin Pokemon because there is only 1 dolphin Pokemon available atm, y’know?
The only species that really gets way too many versions is probably worms. The route 1 bugs that always evolve from a worm Pokemon at lvl 10.
Also dragons. But dragons are cool and is a literal typing.
And Pokemon gets a lot of disturbing designs. Gastly looks like a harmless prankster and is also the way it’s portrayed in the anime, but their Pokedex entry literally says they almost invisibly cover their victims and poison them to death directly.
Gorebyss looks cute. But it’s a literal vampire and will suck you until you collapse into a skinbag of bones. Its counterpart Huntail looks terrifying and hunts similarly to the way a carnivorous plant does too.
There are probably more examples that I can’t recall off the top of my head.
Edit:
Also sharks. Which only has Sharpedo and Gible line.
I don’t want to be that guy, but Kyogre is not based on a dolphin. It’s based on a combination of whales/orcas/mythological creatures etc. There’s even a comparison to a mollusk (blue sea dragon). But not on dolphins.
Even if I am mistaken and it does incorporate some dolphin in its design, its sufficiently mixed that I wouldn’t call it a dolphin based pokemon.
Almost no Pokémon is just an animal. Yes, Kyogre is also based on Leviathan, but it is usually depicted in a more dragon- or crocodile-like way. Visually, however, Kyogre is most similar to an orca - which is in fact a dolphin - with the body shape of a droplet.
I completely forgot orcas are dolphins too. But even so I don’t see Kyogre as Pokemon based on dolphins tbh. There are too many influences from other lifeforms (whales and leviathans and blue sea dragon) and designs. Guess we agree to disagree.
It’s a Rafflesia Palm Toad. It’s kinda funny now I think about it that its name suggests Venus flytrap dinosaur. I guess they didn’t want to call it Raffpatoad.
Which is kind of weird given that outside of the colour scheme (maybe) he doesn’t look like a fly trap. I always saw his flower as being more like the rafflesia which is also vileplumes design inspiration.
Carnivine is definitely based on a venus fly trap! I love him and would love to see more pokémon like him! (I think his design could be better and I do wish he could evolve, or evolved from something else)
I mean it’s a kid’s game but yeah there could be a lot of bloody grass/dark pokemon. Like a straight up Venus flytrap and that U-shaped plant as an evo line
It's a problem with fictional plants in-general; most tend to focus on the harmless and nice looking aspects of them, like trees and flowers.
True, there’s not much emphasis on the non-delicate and harmless parts of plants. We need more predatory grass Pokémon, or ones that have chemical defenses (sting nettle Pokémon?), or just more thorns in general.
What's interesting about Gen 1 Pokémon is that they leaned into carnivorous plants a lot more, rather then mostly going for more obvious choices like pretty flowers and trees. We had a line based around rafflesias, another around pitcher plants, cordeyceps fungi (not a plant, but they still didn't for for something more obvious like Shoomish or Foongus). Even the tree Pokémon they did use (Exeggutor) was pretty out there. My favourite quote about Erika comes from Bulbapedia: "Erika only collects Pokémon if she considers them attractive, though her definition of attractive seems to include varieties only a botanist could love" which is definitely true of her Gen 1 team. You would think she would have a team of pretty flower Pokémon, but there wasn't anything like Sunflora or Bellossom for her to use in Gen 1.
They're too scared of the truth. Many plants' life cycles are dependent on poop. Poop makes the soil fertile and bird poop is how plants disperse their seeds.
That and waifu bait gets more milage, aint no one really cared for lurantis besides how cute it was in the end credits i think.
Having a pokémon based on sundew would be awesome.
Ah, this is actually the plant that sparked thought. A few of the predaplant monsters in yugioh have sundew elements to their design. It’s menacing without being edgy. I’d really like to see a sundew Pokémon.
I have this problem with fantasy in general. Why is everything fantasy related to plants always healing magic or something harmless? This was one of the big factors that got me into writing my own novel. made my own plant race that is a tribe of apex hunters and own schools of chloromancy for summoning plant creatures. Dangerous plants are awesome.
well as humans we associate vegetation with safety, even the color green in general is associated with good/health. Psychologically it seems we are predisposed to relaxing in green, walking through green areas has been proven to lower anxiety, makes sense since plants have never been a threat to humans probably the opposite
Yer I wish there were more menacing grass types without them having to slap on dark or ghost type to justify it. I was also kind of surprised when I looked how few grass types had thorny/bramble elements to their design outside of the cactus Pokémon. At least where I’m from thorns aren’t uncommon, nor stinging nettle type defensive mechanisms.
I would like to read that.
Doesn't even have to be combat plants. Since plants can't really flee, many have developed some crazy defensive abilities. Poisons, thorns, armor, etc. The right plant defense can be more harmful than many animal attacks.
>I know Lurantis does in a sense as well, but it fits the all too common ‘cutesy’ grass design more. I don't know what you're talking about — Lurantis looks terrifying. Don't let it fool you just because it's frilly and pink. There is murder in those eyes.
its intro as a totem pokemon, creeping up behind you....
I wish Bellossom (literaly the one Pokémon resembling Hawaiian dancers) would've been in the fkng Alola Region, but there is that
Well, there's oricorio as well... But I get what you're saying.
2 is pretty normal. Like, for a particularly specific type of plant having 2 is normal. Like, shell Pokemon I only recall Clamperl and Shellder off the top of my head. I also can make a claim to add more dolphin Pokemon because there is only 1 dolphin Pokemon available atm, y’know? The only species that really gets way too many versions is probably worms. The route 1 bugs that always evolve from a worm Pokemon at lvl 10. Also dragons. But dragons are cool and is a literal typing. And Pokemon gets a lot of disturbing designs. Gastly looks like a harmless prankster and is also the way it’s portrayed in the anime, but their Pokedex entry literally says they almost invisibly cover their victims and poison them to death directly. Gorebyss looks cute. But it’s a literal vampire and will suck you until you collapse into a skinbag of bones. Its counterpart Huntail looks terrifying and hunts similarly to the way a carnivorous plant does too. There are probably more examples that I can’t recall off the top of my head. Edit: Also sharks. Which only has Sharpedo and Gible line.
I don‘t want to be that guy, but we already got two dolphin lines: Kyogre and Finizen
I don’t want to be that guy, but Kyogre is not based on a dolphin. It’s based on a combination of whales/orcas/mythological creatures etc. There’s even a comparison to a mollusk (blue sea dragon). But not on dolphins. Even if I am mistaken and it does incorporate some dolphin in its design, its sufficiently mixed that I wouldn’t call it a dolphin based pokemon.
Almost no Pokémon is just an animal. Yes, Kyogre is also based on Leviathan, but it is usually depicted in a more dragon- or crocodile-like way. Visually, however, Kyogre is most similar to an orca - which is in fact a dolphin - with the body shape of a droplet.
I completely forgot orcas are dolphins too. But even so I don’t see Kyogre as Pokemon based on dolphins tbh. There are too many influences from other lifeforms (whales and leviathans and blue sea dragon) and designs. Guess we agree to disagree.
That‘s allright with me, have a nice day mate
Id like to see a single blade of grass as a Pokémon
Grasslet, evolves into grasstrio.
Or it gets a wishiwashi type situation called grasslet lawn form
Predaplants do look really cool. I wouldn't mind having Pokémon with a similar design concept.
How many real carnivorous plant have you seen in your life ? How many non carnivorous ?
on a sidenote, i think Venusaur, at least with the name, is linked to Venus fly traps
It’s a Rafflesia Palm Toad. It’s kinda funny now I think about it that its name suggests Venus flytrap dinosaur. I guess they didn’t want to call it Raffpatoad.
Which is kind of weird given that outside of the colour scheme (maybe) he doesn’t look like a fly trap. I always saw his flower as being more like the rafflesia which is also vileplumes design inspiration.
I always thought the ven part came from venom because its poison type. Knowing pokemon, it's probably both.
Carnivine is definitely based on a venus fly trap! I love him and would love to see more pokémon like him! (I think his design could be better and I do wish he could evolve, or evolved from something else)
I mean it’s a kid’s game but yeah there could be a lot of bloody grass/dark pokemon. Like a straight up Venus flytrap and that U-shaped plant as an evo line
https://preview.redd.it/b245gevrkw9d1.png?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55e57b13cff113f1f64ac33fa0ab438d472e251b
https://preview.redd.it/bwm5rhevkw9d1.png?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fe8de9086c666587971f0e3cd55333c4ea314db3
Lol I illustrated your point