Featured Artist: mssingno

No, there isn't an 'i' missing up there, that's what this artist goes by on dA.

Anyway, have you ever wanted to make your own Pokemon? Well, that's what this person and a lot of other artists on deviantArt do. It's a sort of a sub-niche within the Pokemon niche. The imagined Pokemon are called 'Fakemon' and sometimes these ideas are realized by the artists in a concept drawing. Out of many Fakemon artists, I think mssingno has some of the best concepts. They were nice enough to let me feature the Fakemon they've come up with, so here are a few that really stood out and I could definitely see becoming Pokemon.

First, let's begin with some starter Pokemon concepts:

Monoliz -> Hydros -> Serpentreo
Though Generation V has a Hydra-like dragon, I really love this design.

Embright -> Coalite -> Lumisect
A firefly! Why hasn't this been made yet?

Floatern -> Ringull -> Seagale
I like this much better than Wingull.

Now let's take a look at a couple of legendary Fakemon!

Atlantoise
Biggest. Pokemon. Ever.

Solarus
A steel and 'light'-type Pokemon. I approve.

Here's a few more that I thought were worth mentioning, though like with purplekecleon's article, I will probably forget some that I wanted to feature:

Scarib -> Scaracoph -> Scarrapri
A Pokemon based on a Scarab, now that's an idea that should have been done a loooong time ago. Great design with this.

Heelah
Based on a Gila Monster, another great concept.

Jetsink
Not quite like my idea for another Water/Steel type, but still good, nonetheless! I wouldn't have thought of an underwater mine to be a Pokemon, but I can live with this design.

Juvilan
I have seen someone suggest a pumpkin-based Pokemon before, and this has been the best design for one I've seen so far.

Lustron
I really love this one. The Tron-like look of it is so cool.

Phanton
Another concept I wouldn't have thought of. A Ghost/Steel type, very unique design.

Sharkral
He looks pissed. Another concept for a Steel/Water type, the fishbowl just adds to the cuteness.

Well, that is a sampling of the Fakemon by mssingno. Really awesome designs, right? I've tried designing a couple of Fakemon, but I don't think they could compete with what's posted here, or in the rest of mssingno's gallery. Go have a look and thank them for letting me use the artwork in this feature!

Featured Artist: purplekecleon

This is a new articles series I'm starting that will feature artists I find that craft superb pieces of fan art of video games. Since it's Pokemon week, I thought I would start with one of my favorite artists: purplekecleon.

I started following her on deviantArt a few years ago, and her submissions have graced my inbox regularly. I asked her permission to feature her in this article*, unlike some other site, and she told me to choose which works of hers I like the best, so... here they are.

Snivy and Serperior, she did tell me that this was her favorite piece at the moment.

Joltik on a leaf with rain dripping on it's head, isn't it the cutest?!

Dragonair, my favorite!

Milotic! Another favorite! (I love sea serpent-like Pokemon)

The new starter Pokemon. This piece was made shortly after their reveal. I have a feeling that many fans have grown to like them because of this piece.

Another piece made shortly after these new Pokemon were revealed. Man, she can make any Pokemon likable.

I love the lighting in this one, really looks like they're in a forest.

I picked this one out for Ink, it's one of his main team members.

Precious experience! KILL IT!

I couldn't resist putting this one in. An anthropomorphic Dragonair boy covered in Snivys... that's what I would be.

Well, those are the images I wanted to feature, I'm sure if I look through her gallery again, I'll find something that I really wanted to mention that I missed. I gave quite a lot of love to fifth generation Pokemon, but oh well, those have been on my mind as of late. Meh, this article feels so inferior to her artwork. I feel like I just can't do her work justice, it's too good!

All of the artwork can be found in her deviantArt gallery, with the exception of the last picture, which is from her furaffinity gallery. Go thank her for letting me feature her artwork in this article!

*Actually, now I feel bad about my Top 10 yesterday, all I did was search google for images... I could have used my own photos for the beluga, dolphin and lionfish... but.. ah well, if someone contacts me, I will take the images down.

The Top 10 Sea Creatures Not Yet In Pokemon

Silly concept for a Pokemon, but I love it.

Pokemon are usually based on plants or animals, and occasionally objects, like a balloon or a candle or a pile of eggs. Nothing's wrong with that, since they are Pocket 'Monsters', they were never meant to be based on any type of life-form... but I do feel that some of those slots in the Pokedex could have been put to better use. Since I'm the local marine life guy here, I thought I would make a list of the Top 10 Sea Creatures that have yet to be in Pokemon.

I was relieved to see a sea turtle Pokemon, finally.

People tell me there are too many Water-type Pokemon, it is the most common after all, so they may yell at me for making a list exclusively of sea creatures, but really, they don't all have to be Water type. Hell, one of the new Pokemon from Black/White is based on a crocodile and it's a ground type. The majority of these could probably be Water-types, but with interesting combinations. By the way, of all the Water-type Pokemon, probably only half of those are living in the ocean... so... why hasn't the ocean of the Pokemon world been filled yet? Shouldn't it logically have more species than the land? Bah, forget it, on with the list...

#10. Mosasaur

We already have a Plesiosaur from the first generation with Lapras, but since then, there haven't really been any other ancient marine reptiles in the Pokemon world. I feel that a Mosasaur would make an excellent Pokemon, with a high attack and HP stat. It could also be a lot faster than Lapras because of it's streamlined shape.

#9. Hammerhead Shark

We already have a shark with Sharpedo... well... half of a shark, but there are many different types of sharks that Pokemon can choose from, so why not the Hammerhead? It's one of the strangest creatures in the ocean, and it's overall shape could inspire a pretty cool design.

#8. Humpback Whale

Again, we already have a whale with Wailer/Wailord, but that wasn't really the whale I was imagining when I found out there was a whale Pokemon. What I was imagining was something majestic and beautiful, that's not to say that blue whales aren't that, which Wailord is based on, but Wailord is just... well... not that majestic. If I were to make a Humpback Whale Pokemon, I wouldn't make it a Water type, I'd make it a pure Flying type, because of it's long, wing-like flippers. Think about it, wouldn't that be awesome to fly on giant whale in the sky?

#7. Barracuda

Every generation, there's usually a generic fish Pokemon that comes along, but occasionally, we get something like Relicanth, which is based on a Coelacanth, that had me thinking of other fish that haven't been introduced yet, like the Barracuda. In my eyes, it would be a crazy fast Pokemon.

I decided to go with a cute squid for this picture.

#6. Squid

Pokemon is no stranger to cephalopods, we've had an octopus with Octillery, and an ancient Ammonite with Omanyte/Omastar, but strangely... we've yet to have the most common of cephalopods. Some people say that Tentacruel has some resemblance to a squid, but I'd say not really. There is a lot that can be done with a squid's basic design. If they can do something interesting with the squid's tentacles, that would make for a very visually pleasing Pokemon.

#5. Kelp

Well, not really a creature, but a plant... well... not that either, because technically, Kelp doesn't even belong to the plant kingdom, kelp belongs to the kingdom protista, 'plant' is just a general term for it. There's a free biology lesson for you. Anyway, I've always wondered why they've never made a Water/Grass-type Pokemon that was based on Kelp. We have lily pads with the Lotad line of Pokemon, so why not something with Kelp?

#4. Lionfish

Like the Barracuda, this is another fish I've been wondering about when looking at the generic fish Pokemon every generation. It's obvious that the type would be Water/Poison. The lionfish already looks badass, so they don't have to work that hard to make a good looking Pokemon out of this animal. If they can't make it look good, then... I don't know what to say, they must have bad design skills if they mess up this beautiful creature.

#3. Beluga

Hooray! Another cetacean on the list! I always thought that a Beluga would make a very cute Pokemon and I even tried my hand at designing one once, with a Narwhal evolution. I would suspect that the Beluga would be another Water/Ice type... but maybe it doesn't have to be... what about Ice/Psychic? It would have a ton of weaknesses though... yeah, forget that, just make it Water/Ice.

#2. Billfish

Billfish is a broad term for fish with swords for snouts, like Marlin, Swordfish and Sailfish. I always thought that a billfish Pokemon would be a Water/Steel-type, because of it's sword-like bill. It would only be the second Pokemon to have that type combination, and it would have a huge advantage with all those resistances.

#1. Dolphin

You all saw this coming. A certain friend argued to me that Gorebyss looked like a dolphin, but no, that's a pipefish or snipe eel at best. If bulbapedia doesn't think it looks like a dolphin, then it's probably not based on a dolphin. (They think Tyranitar looks like a T-rex? What?) There is an orca Pokemon, which is the legendary Pokemon, Kyogre, and that's technically a dolphin species, but that's still not the kind of dolphin I'm talking about. What I want, is a Pokemon based on the Bottlenose dolphin, as pictured above. My guess is that for the type, they could make it Water/Psychic, because of it's intelligence, or hell, make it just Psychic, after all, the lamprey/electric eel Pokemon we got from Black/White is only Electric, and not Water.


Runners-up:

So shiny, but terrifying.

Bobbit Worm

The bobbit worm is a very strange and creepy polychaete worm. They creep me out a little, but so do centipedes... but I love my Pokemon that's based on centipedes, my fat Scolipede, so if they can make me like centipedes, I'm sure Pokemon can make me like Bobbit Worms.

Marine Iguana

There have been a lot of lizards in the Pokemon universe, and there may have been an iguana in there somewhere, but the Marine Iguana is so different, that I had to mention it.

Deep sea tube worms

The reason I left this out of the top 10 is because I couldn't really think of what kind of Pokemon they could make with this, maybe some kind of crab or fish with the tube worms on it's back or something, I don't know. Though, I do know what type it would be... Water/Fire, because it lives in extreme heat near thermal vents.


Well, that's my list. What do you guys think? Are there some sea creatures I didn't mention that you'd like to see as Pokemon?

Pokemon: I Just Don't Get It

It is amazing that Pokemon has been around here for going on 13 years (in North America) despite everyone's claims that it was a fad that would die off sooner than later. Now it isn't nearly as colossal as it once was but it is still probably Nintendo's number 1 cash cow.

But for me, I look at the games and the various spin-offs it has produced and just gotta wonder "why?".

Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate Pokemon. I just don't get Pokemon. To me it has always seemed to be something that just goes over my head. And I'm not particularly sure why. For one, I'm as big a Nintendo fan as they come, two, I'm not scared off by "cute, cartoony" graphics, and three, I like RPGs, so there really isn't an easy reason. I have bought one Pokemon game in me life and that was Pokemon Sapphire for the GBA with full intentions on giving it a fair go and I just got bored late into the game and haven't touched anything Pokemon related since.

Now I've actually thought about it and can come up with 2 reasons why I never got into Pokemon:

1. Wrong Age At The Time

Now this reason completely contradicts my general tendencies. My gaming tastes never really went from one extreme to the other as a tendency. I didn't suddenly stop liking Mario, Zelda or other goofy cartoonish games just because I was also playing Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill or Resident Evil at the time. But in '98 I was 15 going on 16 and Pokemon's making the scene totally didn't interest me. Which given in '98 I was still playing Mario 64 regular and games like Yoshi's Island was in my regular rotation makes it even more weird that I just didn't get Pokemon.

2. My Gaming Interests

To say I wasn't into RPGs at the time would be an understatement. Final Fantasy 7 and later Final Fantasy 8 would nearly destroy my interest in the genre and at the time I wasn't really into handhelds so I was more or less outside looking in on the "fad" of Pokemon.

So really it was a bit of bad timing I guess.

Yep.

That's all I got.

It's Poke-Mania! Pokemon Week!

Since four of the editors have been playing Pokemon Black and White quite a lot lately, we're going to celebrate by making this week a Pokemon Week! All this week, we'll be posting articles related to Pokemon.

I don't know about the other editors, but right now, I have nothing but Pokemon on my mind right now, so these articles should come to me easily. I'm almost done with the main game in Pokemon Black, and it's been such a great improvement over previous iterations, though there are some things missing. I love my team though, especially Scolipede.

D'awww, it's so fat.

I'll discuss more about the game in our upcoming collaborative mega-review of Pokemon Black/White later this month.

Anyway, it's Pokemon week! Celebrate by telling us what you like about Pokemon. We'll have a new Pokemon-related poll up for this week soon.