Blast from the Past: Pokémon!

This is for all those ten year olds back in the late ‘90s who were addicted, and maybe still are, to the Japanese phenomenon that took America and the world by storm, Pokémon. I remember when I was in fifth grade, and we used to trade those little pocket monster cards like they were currency. If Pokémon cards were currency, many of us would have been some of the greatest entrepreneurs in existence! But as with most things from childhood, the cards and video games get thrown away, lost, or packed away in some shoe box in the attic. However, my cards from over a decade now, have remained on the bottom level of my bookshelf that my little brothers like to look at occasionally.

While on a trip to St. George, Utah, my brother and I were arguing over the finer points of Avatar: The Last Airbender compared to Naruto. . . In other words it was a geek brawl, which is always a good way to spend an evening. Anyways, we were going on with that when we got onto the subject of Pokémon. We began talking about how the critters “could” be real and what a movie would be like with “realistic” Pocket monsters. We got talking about it again last night and I decided I wanted to draw some sketches of a few Pokémon with realistic characteristics. Below are five Pokémon that I drew up combining animal concepts and draping them over the basis set up by the Nintendo creators, along with card comparisons of each one. 

 The first I drew was Bulbasaur because he is the first on the list of Pokemon. When making Bulbasaur I used frog, lizard and even elephant concepts to make something as close to the card as I could.

 When I finished Bulbasaur, I realized I needed more of a challange, which is why I decided to try Diglett out. In the cards, video games and cartoon, all you ever see of Diglett is his head popping out of the ground. So here's my interpretation of Diglett in his entirety. I based him off ground hogs and prairie dogs with a more canine nose.

 Of course Pikachu had to be in the mix somewhere. Even though the card depicts him as a 'mouse' Pokémon, I had always seen him more as a cross between a rabbit and a ferret. His tail was dificult to create a realistic version of so I came up wit hthe idea that his tail is normally soft and fox-like unless electricity is surging through his fur, then it takes on that more lightning bolt look.

My first Pokémon card was Charmander and he has always had a place in my heart ever since. The reptilian features was a no brainer but I also based his build on the pachycephalosaurus, or in other words, those head butting dinosaurs.

 Now here was a challenge! Humanoid Pokémon like Mr. Mime I knew would be a problem since Pokémon are animals, not people. So I based him off a chimpanzee and a baboon. I put color to this one so that I could better picture what he'd look like.

So that's all the pics for now. I'm going to try and draw a more complete version of the three starter Pokémon in the first games, Charmander, Bulbasuar and Squirtle. Until then, give me some feed back if you'd like. Critiques are always welcome!