I know I’m super late, but here’s my contribution for #pokemon20!! Pokemon has been there for me my entire life, and gen 1 especially has a really special place in my heart, so I wanted to do something special for it!
It’s a 11×17″ print, and will be available in 3 palette for otakuthon and san francisco comic con; and then hopefully online! I worked on this for 71 hours in 14 days, I’m so glad it’s done you don’t understand.
Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde are based around Yggdrasil of Norse mythology. Xerneas is Eikþyrnir who lives under the life tree, Yveltal is Hraesvelgr who represents death, and Zygarde is the underground Nidhogg. Xerneas shares its life, Yveltal takes the lives of others to replenish its own, and Zygarde works to maintain the natural balance of the life-death cycle.
RESHIRAM, ZEKROM, AND KYUREM FROM GENERATION 5
Reshiram and Zekrom represent Truth vs Ideals, and the Tao philosophy of Yin/Yang. While Kyurem is the grey area in morality, a hollow shell left behind by the singular Dragon these three once used to be before humans tried using it for what they perceived to be “right”, when in reality it was just differing perspectives.
PALKIA, DIALGA, GIRATINA, AND ARCEUS FROM GENERATION 4
Dialga and Palkia are the Shinto legend inspired, godlike entities responsible for guarding and creating space and time. They come from a more scientific approach to how the universe works/was created, whereas Arceus and Giratina are more spiritual as they are designed with inspirations from various versions of “God” and “Satan” in dozens of different religions around the world.
GROUDON, KYOGRE, AND RAYQUAZA FROM GENERATION 3
Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza are modelled after the biblical beasts; The Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz. Groudon created the land, Kyogre rules the seas, and Rayquaza guards the skies. Groudon and Kyogre helped shape the world (Alpha) and often nearly end the world in conflict with each other (Omega). Rayquaza acts as a neutralizing force to aid the world and its people.
HO-OH AND LUGIA FROM GENERATION 2
Ho-Oh has clear inspirations from various fire-birds in different legends from various cultures like the Phoenix, Fenghuang, and the Huma Bird, as it is associated with the power to revive itself and others from ashes, bring eternal happiness, and rainbow iconography. Lugia could be considered similar to the sea-dwelling dragon, Ryujin of Shinto myth, and he has subtle elements that seem similar to a beluga whale.
MOLTRES, ARTICUNO, AND ZAPDOS FROM GENERATION 1
Hot bird, cold bird, and zappy bird.
I love the first gen legendaries but this is true..
Actually not true. Basically, the whole thing about first generation and the kanto region is a theme of colours. You start off on a pallet (town), blank and colourless with no team behind you. Every city and town, and even where you fight the elite four, are named after a colour. (Viridian City, Lavender Town, and Cinnabar Island to name a few). The 3 legendary birds aren’t supposed to be based on their elements, but rather the colours red, yellow, and blue. “The primary color triad in a standard artist’s color wheel.”
Please, don’t discredit the team behind this. It’s a great design choice in my opinion.
Catching an ‘M with a Hexadecimal identifier of 00 will leave behind an invisible but otherwise Completely Normal Ditto with its previous moveset at level 0 or 80 that needs to be caught or defeated before the battle can properly end. These games have been out for twenty years and we still don’t know why this happens.
I think the biggest clue that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing in the first generation of Pokemon is that Zapdos’s Japanese name is Thunder and Jolteon’s Japanese name is Thunders
So, if you get a bunch of Zapdos in one place you get a Jolteon?
You know, listening to the music from Pokemon Red/Blue just reminds me that Kanto has got to be the creepiest region in the entire series. Maybe it’s the 8-bit music making it feel more minimalist or foreboding and haunting, maybe it’s the fact that the lack of details when it comes to some of the backstory (like the origins of Mewtwo) makes you wonder what exactly happened but it’s a region that has –
– A forest theme that foreshadows who the final gym leader is in a really creepy way (the music itself is just as spooky)
– Bits and pieces here and there that talk about how because the region is so industry based that pollution is an issue.
– Lavender Town (which is not as creepy as the internet has made it seem but still creepy in some places).
– Villains that may not be as visionary as what came later but they still controlled a city (Celadon), actually seeked to hurt people and took another city hostage and still managed to come back for the sequel.
– The mansion in Cinnabar as mentioned above, it’s got off-putting music, it’s completely abandoned (with the exception of some theives and a couple of scientists), has a number of poison Pokemon lurking around and the journals which only give you the slightest hints of what was going on and feels very much like an apocalyptic log.
– Cerulean Cave which you can’t even explore until you beat the Elite Four and just coming across Mewtwo at the very end
– Some of the trainer classes can be a bit unnerving, I mean the Cool Trainer has a whip (as does the Tamer but at least that makes a bit of sense) and the Channeler is just plain fucking creepy.
I just feel like the Kanto region had a bigger sense of danger and dread than any of the following regions that were more adventure based and it was fun to explore, I think the only thing that comes close is Sea Mauville in OR/AS that has the same thing with the journals that the Cinnabar mansion had and it’s just as creepy as it was back then.
There’s a few other elements that just make me notice that Kanto felt really dreary and depressing and I kind of like it like that, it made exploring the place so fun because you never knew what would actually pop out, you’d never properly understand stuff until you actually thought about it. I guess in that sense, it really does feel like a Mother game.
PiraticOctopus 