pokemon design nitpicks

shrinkray

shrinkray

lovely nightmare
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there are some pokemon whose designs i mostly like, but there's just one or two things that bother me about them. the biggest one that comes to mind is dachsbun - as cute as it is conceptually, i hate the fluffy bit on its tail so much that it's hard to use, especially since that's the main part you see when you send it out. something about it just looks kind of gross, i don't mind the fluff on its chest, but the tail fluff feels extremely out of place to me. i'd instantly like it way more if that part was removed and the tail looked more like the ears, or maybe even if the tail was just fluff, instead of it being placed awkwardly on top of it, if that makes sense.
another one is male indeedee, which i really want to like, but its body shape is so awkward, and the triangles on its face are kind of random and don't feel like they go well with the rest of the design. if it was just tweaked a little bit, i think it might be one of my favorites, but the way it is, it's hard to look at.
anyway, i was wondering what other things bother people about certain pokemon designs. ideally i want this thread to be less about pure negativity and hating certain pokemon, and more about those little details that you just wish were different, the small things you would change or fix if you could, or that you might want to be changed if they get a regional form/evolution/etc in the future.
 
Teddiursa is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, but WHY does it only have two claws on each foot?
Galarian Rapidash’s eyes bring the design down for me, though I suppose they do fit for one of Bede’s Pokemon, looking all smug and whatnot.
I’ll post others as I see fit lol
 
  • Phanpy: I love him dearly but I feel its 3D model could be better, it makes the cheeks too notable and makes it look like the wrinkles of an old woman.
  • Swampert: Best starter ever but I think he's the main culprit behind the "Marshtomp looks nothing like Mudkip and Swampert!" complaint I see sometimes. I don't think it should look exactly like Marshtomp, but maybe it could have a different color, two tails and only one or two spikes on its cheeks for the complaint to be resolved.
  • Arceus: Its face looks less menacing than Dialga, Palkia and Giratina's....why? It should look as menacing or completely shrouded in mystery like it does on its Gens 4-5 icon.
  • Palpitoad: Change the peach color to a blue and it would be better received.
  • Scolipede: Add two legs more, give it the rings of the shiny and you'd get a PERFECT Pokemon.
  • Reshiram: Delete the, ahem, spike in the middle of its legs.
  • Decidueye: The legs are a bit too big, and the Gen 7 model looked very still.
  • Crocalor: Lovely middle stage, though I feel the eyes look dumb, should look either like Fuecoco or Skeledirge's.
  • Bellibolt: The false eyes should be the real eyes, though I have gotten used to the real ones.
  • Terapagos: It's too small, should be at least 5 times as big.
 
I love Ogerpon....but her shiny form? Not so much. T^T All they did was make her face green, and they didn't even change the hue of her cloak a bit to make her stand out. She just isn't the same without her orange face :<
 
grapploctmouth.png

I still hate your fucking mouth.
 
GreatLiver said:
Barbaracle should have had a gender difference, where one's head was a left hand and the other a right hand.
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This is an interesting idea, but idk what evolutionary (in the scientific sense) purpose it would serve? In real life (and with Pokémon to some extent), sexual dimorphism usually serves some purpose for mate selection/survival/etc.
 
oh perfect a thread to talk about this one pokemon that has been haunting me forever
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boltund! such a cute design! love this guy! i have one named Zoomie in my sword file and she's my girlfriend and i's daughter. i would give my life for her. HOWEVER.
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this 3d model drives me nuts in two different ways and they've been bothering me forever. i adore this pokemon but if they just fixed these two tiny things on the model i'd be able to love its 3d model too:
  1. the fur tufts being completely different amounts of thickness across the model is really bothersome. the two dark green ones on the butt are fine because those are clearly stylized and shaped a certain way, but the tiny tufts on the back of the neck and the one on the front, as well as the fur on the tail to an extent, come off less like purposeful cartoony shape design and more like what is supposed to be natural tufts of fur. in the artwork, these tufts look great! they have a flowing fur feel to them and they're all similar in thickness which gives off the impression of an even fur coat. on the 3d model however, the ones on the neck are styled to be rigid and conical, and the fur thickness feels all over the place. also, just saying, there is way less fur on the back of the neck on the 3d model than on the official art. it is really notable when comparing the HOME render and the art which are in the same pose. all they need to do is just give a slight wave to the neck fur and make the neck fur a little more prominent to match each other and the tail and it'd look fine!! especially because the design seems to be going for communicating the speed and intense running form of boltund partially via the flow of the fur, which just isn't properly reflected in the model at all (source: i've been drawing animal characters for 16 years. bias: i am very particular about these things)
  2. WHY does the big yellow circle around the eye not have a dark outline like in the art!! it looks so strange!! the eye shape is blending in with the darker yellow of the body in a way that does not feel intentional!! it looks so, so much better with the separating line. sweet arceus
while writing this post i was compelled to look up TCG art of boltund to see how TCG artists tend to style boltund and from what i can tell pretty much all of them draw the fur better and keep the dark outline, or if they don't keep the dark outline, the yellow of the body contrasts just a bit better.
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i'm sorry this post ended up so long. this has been bothering me since sword and shield came out
 
Welkamo said:
This is an interesting idea, but idk what evolutionary (in the scientific sense) purpose it would serve? In real life (and with Pokémon to some extent), sexual dimorphism usually serves some purpose for mate selection/survival/etc.
Click to expand...
(Bizarre random interest activated)
So weirdly enough, there have been studies suggesting humans are statistically more likely to be left-handed if they're biologically male, so a Pokémon gender difference based on handedness has more basis than you'd think! On the other hand (pun intended), there have also been studies on animals that indicate sex-based skewing of limb preference is exclusively a human quirk, so one could debate how fitting it is to apply it to a Pokémon. Isn't handedness a weird and amazing thing???

Uh. Anyway. cough

More relevant to the thread topic: I would give Yanmega more expressive eyes. I love dragonflies and I love Yanma, but as a kid, I just thought Yanmega looked mean and scary in a bad way. Looking at it now, I think that's because the change to unreadable eyes + a body plan that didn't give many other outlets for expression made it hard to see as a friend the way you can with most Pokémon.
 
It's weird that some lines are inconsistent in terms of shines like how Azumarill's shiny is yellow while the other two Pokemon in its line have green shines.
 
I know a lot of people don't like Kingambit and wish Bisharp was the final evo, and while I really adore it, I also agree that the whole scooting around on the hair thing looks pretty ridiculous. I know it's a major part of Kingambit's concept, yet it really could have been done better. It looks like it's taking a dump on the toilet, and it gets rid of a lot of the seriousness it should have when it moves. How does it float anyway? I don't think that part of it should be gone entirely, but come on Kingambit, stand up for yourself a little more!

(Sometimes it is enjoyable or silly to watch)
 
Welkamo said:
This is an interesting idea, but idk what evolutionary (in the scientific sense) purpose it would serve? In real life (and with Pokémon to some extent), sexual dimorphism usually serves some purpose for mate selection/survival/etc.
Click to expand...
When they make out they'd also be holding hands (heads) at the same time.
 
Why are the Flabébé line and Comfey pure Fairy type instead of being Fairy/Grass? They learn a lot of Grass type moves and are both based on flowers, but while the Flabébé line had conept art that lacked the flower motif, Comfey does not, so there's no excuse for it.

Why are Latias and Latios Dragon/Psychic instead of Dragon/Flying? They hover in the air and Latios is even said to be faster than a jet plane in certain Pokédex entries, so this genuinely confuses me.

Why is Lugia also Dragon/Psychic instead of Dragon/Water? They're the literal guardian of the sea, and learn quite a few Water moves. This one has baffled me since I was a kid. Also, Wishiwashi's colors are so similar to it that I thought it was an offspring for it before the school form was revealed. I even nicknamed it Lugia in my copy of Pokémon Moon for that reason.
 
  • Feraligatrs man boobs in its modern design. I swear it didn't have these prior to the 3d era. I miss the old gatr design.
  • Kingambit constantly sitting down even when "walking". The way it just levitates around like that looks terrible I'm sorry. Apart from that the design is fine, but man my hype for this mon sure did drop when I seen how it moved in game. RIP
  • Nuzleafs nipples. Ruins an otherwise ok design imo.
  • Grapplocts mouth. The design otherwise looks perfectly fine but the mouth placement is so off.
  • I really like Suicune but I've always wished it had a nose. Like Entei and Raikou have features on their faces that mimic the look of a nose but Suicune lacks this. My only nitpick with its design that is otherwise perfect.
  • I'm one of the few people who doesn't totally hate Jynxs design but I'm not a fan of the random spikes coming out of the sides of her dress.
 
that little tiny red bit on primal kyogre's fins :tentacruel: i dont like it!!
 
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