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[Boss Doggie]

Eh we'll see - he might become a ninja thief for a nice Water/Dark because Crawduant needs some companion

 

[Finaika]

I know the guy who created Pikachu graduated from my college.

 

[perfectchaos007]

I know the guy who created Pikachu graduated from my college.

Atsuko Nishida (only female member of core team)
--Pikachu
--Minccino
--Lillipup (or Ibe?)
--Herdier
--Stoutland (her favorite)

hmmm

 

[Harken Raiser]

Could be worse, could be one of the people who claim that his Pokemon aren't cannon because they weren't designed by perfect, precious Japanese people.

Is that really a thing? Are there really fans who think the nationality of the designer effects cannon? Do the Pokemon designed by the Korean designer count?

 

[StreetsAhead]

Is that really a thing? Are there really fans who think the nationality of the designer effects cannon? Do the Pokemon designed by the Korean designer count?

Yes, there was even one in the worst Pokemon thread. It's not just Western fans, I've seen some Japanese people say that too, on 2ch. Never really noticed anything about the Korean dude.

But yeah, people are funny.

 

[Madao]

Yeah James Turner should be fired because he did one terrible Pokemon (in their eyes) with actually a good theme going for it. Forget him being the one who "conceptualized" HarmoKnight, and having a distinct "cartoon" artstyle which is also found in the game as well as his other stuff. No he should be fired.

I disagree - he mimics the Japanese "thief" cartoon.

why is Luffy at a Pokemon concert?

Pokemon/One Piece crossover incoming?

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

+ Any other trivia you know about them, their inspirations, etc?

Finding their inspirations is really easy. It's pretty clear just by looking at the Pokemon what it's inspired of.

 

[ColtraineGF]

I think the Game Freak staff blog from around the time of BW's release had an interview with Mr. Turner about this.

Finally found the reference to the Game Freak interview you were referring to, Streets - it had to be in the one place I looked over

http://www.gamefreak.co.jp/blog/staff/?p=204

-ところで、ジェイミーがデザインしたポケモンは何ですか？

バニプッチとゴビットの一連の進化形と、あとはバルチャイなどを
デザインしました。
自分でプレイしていて、まだどれとも出会っていないんだけど(&#31505。

As a side note, which Pokemon did you design, Jamie?

I designed the Vanillite and Golett evolutionary chain, and after that the Vullaby [chain].
I've been playing [the game], but I still haven't met any of them (lol)

It seems that him saying バルチャイなど implies that he's including Mandibuzz along with Vullaby, and he's saying he designed the chain as a whole.

 

[Salsa]

James Turner can go rot in hell

Spoiler

I actually like his other non-designing-pokemon work

 

[Hot Coldman]

Golurk says fuck you guys

 

[JordanN]

Almost every single cartoon character has 4 fingers because 5 fingers are a bitch to draw correctly apparently.

Eh, I would say it's more of a budget thing than skill. If you're in art and you can't draw 5 fingers properly there's something wrong.

 

[Boss Doggie]

So essentially Sugimori draws but the others (+ him) conceptualize?

James Turner can go rot in hell

Spoiler

I actually like his other non-designing-pokemon work

Golurk says fuck you

 

[ColtraineGF]

Next question over:

―私は結構出会いましたよ。全部ゲットしています！
　自分が担当した領域で大変だったことはありますか？

デモムービー全般は、それほど苦労しないで色々なアイデアを考えることが
できましたが、ポケモンデザインは悩みました。
通常はグラフィックデザイナー全員で、自由なアイデアで考えた
ポケモンのデザインを持ち寄って決めますが、僕は開発に参加した
タイミングが遅かったから、足りないタイプ(のポケモ&#12531を補足して
ほしいという依頼があって。
例えば、「氷タイプで、冷気を出すポケモンが欲しい！」とか。
その条件の中で、魅力的なキャラクターのアイデアを出すのに
苦労しました。でも、すごく楽しかったなー。

I encountered them a ton! I got them all!
While you were working on your responsibilities, were there any moments where you felt like you were in a bind?

During the demo movie, I didn't have too much trouble coming up with various ideas for it, but in the end, what ended up being difficult for me was Pokemon design.
Usually, all the graphic designers freely come up with ideas for Pokemon, which are then collected and decided upon. However, since my participation in the development process was so late, the types of requests I got were aimed towards complementing the existing lineup with underrepresented types of Pokemon.
For example, I'd get requests like "I really want an Ice Pokemon that exudes a cold atmosphere!", stuff like that.
And with that sort of stipulation, I'd have to come up with an interesting design that fit, which really stressed me out. But despite all that, it was still fun doing it.

 

[zroid]

OOh, that's great. I think Atsuko may have also done the Lillipup line now that I think about it.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Also I find it weird that Nishida didn't do all of the Pika-expies

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Finding their inspirations is really easy. It's pretty clear just by looking at the Pokemon what it's inspired of.

Nah, some of them aren't that obvious, or are multi-layered...

For example, Ledian. Obviously it's a ladybug, but it's also based off a Sentai hero (probably partially Kamen Rider given the Insect-typing), with its head meant to resemble a Sentai-style helmet. This isn't that obvious, and might be reaching a bit...till you examine its move-set, and see it learns quite a few Punching-type attacks you'd expect of a Sentai Hero, and even has Iron Fist as its DW Ability.

And then you've got guys like the Timburr-line who are inspired by Japanese Construction Workers (an interview with GameFreak even mentioned Timburr's lower-body being the knickerbockers Japanese construction crews wear), which most fans seem to gloss over thinking they're clowns. The red nose is actually supposed to be a drunkard nose.

 

[Boss Doggie]

And I just realized that Bug beats Dark because Kamen Riders

 

[Duane Cunningham]

A mime, with his whole "moveset theme" being the ability of Mimes who do the thing where they act like they're touching a wall, thus Mr. Mime learns Barrier (and his Japanese name is Barrierd) and other defensive moves.

Here's something weird, Mr. Mime was actually edited from Fire-Red and Leaf-Green on and given five-fingers instead of four. I've heard the reason is that Japan has some weird thing about drawing cartoon characters with four fingers...I think it has to do with some old caste-system where lower class people had four fingers, but I'm not sure.

The way I've always heard it is that there's an old-school cliche or legend that chopping off a finger is a Yakuza initiation ritual. So a character with a missing finger became kind of a visual gag to indicate mafia involvement. Kind of the equivalent of a mask and stubble being western cartoon shorthand for a thug/thief:

Or some old loony toons character with a fedora and pinstripes... one look and you know "oh, that's a mobster". In Japan, three fingers and a thumb are shorthand (lol) for "Hey this funny little guy is a Yakuza".

That's how I understand it at least.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

Pretty much every cartoon character has four fingers: western and Japanese alike. It's a classic. Has nothing to do with Yakuza or skill or whatever.

 

[injurai]

Pretty much every cartoon character has four fingers: western and Japanese alike. It's a classic. Has nothing to do with Yakuza or skill or whatever.

Ya, it's because Drawing all 5 fingers became a far too detailed focal point to the relatively simple figures of older cartoons.

 

[clemenx]

And I just realized that Bug beats Dark because Kamen Riders

Holy.Shit.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Bumping as it may or not have been mentioned before, we do know and have some clues about who designed who.

I've heard around that Atsuko Nishida who designed Mincinno (and likely Cincinno) was, believe it or not, the creator of PIKACHU!

Here's a card drawn by her:

ADORABLE!!! :O

Also, Hironobu Yoshida created Celebi, Deoxys, Wobbuffet, Dunsparce and Magmortor, here are his matching cards:

We need EVERYONE to make art of their created Pokemon, this should once and for all debunk that Sugimori is the beginning and end of all Pokemon (you know what I mean).