Don't know why I did this just felt like providing the chapter timestamps. T B Skyen do with them what you will. 0:00 - Bulbasaur Line 0:53 - Charmander Line 1:47 - Squirtle Line 2:41 - Caterpie Line 3:35 - Weedle Line 4:29 - Pidgey Line 5:22 - Rattata Line 6:16 - Spearow Line 7:10 - Ekans Line 8:03 - Pikachu Line 9:50 - YT Self Promotion 10:38 - Sandshrew Line 11:32 - Nidoran♀Line 12:26 - Nidoran♂Line 13:19 - Clefairy Line 14:13 - Vulpix Line 15:07 - Jigglypuff Line 16:01 - Zubat Line 16:54 - Oddish Line 17:48 - Paras Line 18:42 - Venonat Line 19:36 - Diglett Line 20:30 - Meowth Line 21:24 - Psyduck Line 22:17 - Mankey Line 23:09 - Growlithe Line 24:02 - Poliwag Line 24:56 - Abra Line 25:50 - Machop Line 26:44 - Bellsprout Line 27:38 - Tentacool Line 28:32 - Geodude Line 29:26 - Ponyta Line 30:19 - Slowpoke Line 31:13 - Magnemite Line 32:05 - Farfetch'd 32:58 - Doduo Line 33:50 - Seel Line 34:39 - Grimer Line 35:32 - Shellder Line 36:25 - Gastly Line 37:17 - Onix Line 38:08 - Drowzee Line 39:03 - Krabby Line 39:56 - Voltorb Line 40:50 - Exeggcute Line 41:44 - Cubone Line 42:37 - Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee Line 43:30 - Lickitung Line 44:24 - Koffing Line 45:17 - Rhyhorn Line 46:11 - Chansey Line 47:04 - Tangela Line 47:58 - Kangaskhan 48:52 - Horsea Line 49:46 - Goldeen Line 50:40 - Staryu Line 51:33 - Mr. Mime Line 52:27 - Scyther Line 53:21 - Jynx Line 54:15 - Electabuzz Line 55:10 - Magmar Line 56:02 - Pinsir 56:56 - Tauros 57:54 - Magikarp Line 58:55 - Lapras 59:48 - Ditto 1:00:43 - Eevee 1:01:37 - Vaporeon 1:02:31 - Jolteon 1:03:21 - Flareon 1:04:12 - Espeon 1:05:06 - Umbreon 1:05:59 - Leafeon 1:06:50 - Glaceon 1:07:43 - Sylveon 1:08:36 - Porygon Line 1:09:30 - Omanyte Line 1:10:24 - Kabuto Line 1:11:18 - Aerodactyl 1:12:11 - Snorlax Line 1:13:05 - Articuno 1:13:59 - Zapdos 1:14:53 - Moltres 1:15:45 - Dratini Line 1:16:38 - Mewtwo 1:17:31 - Mew
Something about a list of the initial 151 Pokémon just tickles my fancies. Reminds me of the old posters of the first gen id have on my wall when I was like 9
for Ekans it makes sense that there are no visible fangs as snakes don't have fangs that peak outside of their mouths like sabertooths, the only time we really ever see ekans with fangs is in the cartoon but in game it's probably harder to show fangs inside of a mouth during attack animations.
1:16 Fun fact: applin is a dragon type because of a joke Since apples are always associated with having worms inside of them… they made applin a dragon type because the word “worm” sounds exactly like “wyrm” a mythical creature which is basically a dragon just kissing a few legs I believe
Regarding the yellow rings on Umbreon. In the beta for pokemon gold and silver, Umbreon was originally supposed to be a poison type, not a dark type. They probably based the rings on how some poisonous animals have bright colors to show predators that they are poisonous.
That would make sense. There's a rl octopus that has rings on its skin and is poisonous to touch, plus bioluminescent chemicals are generally toxic to ingest so combining those on a would-be poison type would be creative. Though at least the rings still work as conveying a glowstick vibe like a visual cue to avoid being bumped into at night.
@@feiradragon7915 I know this is several months late, but overtime they gradually made the inner section of the rings narrower so now they look like eyes in the dark. Which I think is a super cool way to slightly modify the design to work more for its type
The idea of the poison type Umbreon was before the original games came out, during the beta. So the name planned could have been different. Also, the official Japanese name of Umbreon is "Blacky". Back then, they would release the pokemon games in Japan a year or some months before other countries. This means that the name of Umbreon for the English name was chosen after Umbreon was decided to be a dark type.@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes
Boy did my bro Umbreon dirty. I'm of the absolute opposite opinion, I think the yellow doesn't look tacked on at all and the shapes provide an excellent contrast to the black fur, making the observer think of flashlights in the dark, fireflies in a nighttime field, or the moon and stars contrasted against the night sky. I look at Umbreon and I see a member of the Midnight Crew- this Pokemon isn't evil, or even mischievous, but it is absolutely a night owl and it loves prowling through the quiet and solitude of street lamps illuminating empty nighttime streets when everyone else is asleep- the slinking alley cat to the refined, demure chic of Espeon.
He had quite some controversial opinions about some of the fan favourites. I didn't agree with arcanine and Joleon either. Also, Joleon is nowhere near the worst option as an electric type in Kanto. I would always choose it over the overrated mascot and other late game electric types.
I believ the Pokémon that bites Slowbro's tail is actually an unused one from an earlier/beta build rather than a Shellder. They kept the design and claimed it was a Shellder once they dropped that Pokémon from the game. I also believe said beta revealed a different final form for the Squirtle line, with Blastoise being from a separate one, then those two got merged into the one we have today, scrapping the others.
it's funny that you mentioned that Nidoran F aren't directly based on any animal found in nature. Earlier this year, I woke up at about 2am. Got up to use the bathroom. Got back to bed and just as I was about to fall back to sleep, it hit me. Nidorans are rabbits. Needless to say, I could not sleep after that revelation.
Okay smart guy with the big brain and the multiple brain cells can you explain to me why SandSHREW, who resembles a pangolin and evolves into a hedgehog, is categorised as the 'mouse' pokemon? checkmate athiests
The edgier characterization of mr mime in détective pikachu made him less creepy, and in swsh onwards, he's got that animation of sitting in a couch and drinking a beer that makes him more charming
For Alolan Marowak the ghostly flamedancer element comes the cultural significance on that kind of traditional dance in that flame dances are a way of honoring the spirits, preparing for war and celebrating life in Polynesian culture and given that Morowak is already so tied to mourning conceptually having a final evolution that can properly bring closure to the life lost while celebrating the life it still has is a really nice full circle moment that ties both the pokemon and the region together in a very resonant way while also being really cool.
thank you for explaining this! i was pretty upset that they thought the idea &design seemed out of place, when it fits beautifully and is a perfect regional variant for marowak!
Jigglypuff and Clefairy lines being siblings means that Wigglytuff having rabbit features makes sense. In Japan, rabbits are accociated with the moon, so while Clefairy fell to Kanto from the moon, Jigglypuff lived in Kanto and lived alongside them after they landed, picking up moon-based evolution in the process.
A note about porygon-z: his limbs are not just in random order, but look like axis you see in any 3d software: X, Y and Z. So basically he's just going in the new dimention and is continuation of the joke.
A note about Muk; Alolan Muk LOOKS more ferocious, but in actuality it's way more friendly! Assuming you feed it. The Moon entry says it's very friendly, but if you don't feel it properly it'll smash your furniture and devour the pieces
Galarian Zapdos is actually based on a road runner! Its great because Zapdos is my favorite legendary and growing up in Nevada where they are fairly common makes the whole line perfect to me!
What I think's missing here is how these designs communicate and interact with the gameplay. There's a noticeable trend towards to more dangerous pokemon as you go down the line. Subtley increasing the stakes of the journey while communicatimg your player character's increasing power as the world throws far more deadly looking threats at you. It's starts early as spearow being far more predatory than pidgey. Even meoth communicates this being an early-mid rattata. Upping the ante by being a cat instead of a rat. I'd argue even venonat commuicates more danger than weedle or catterpie. This caps out with the legendary birds and mewtwo bringing your journey in contact with the mythical and demigodly This progession is even hinted at by the rarer 5% pokemon you find early on. Sticking around in early areas shows you a hint of the world's higher power.
I don’t really believe the gyarados and dragonite were switched theory anymore. The similarities between dratini and gyarados are pretty surface level (they are both serpentine dragons, they are both blue) but gyarados and magikarp share various features that make it clear they were designed to go together (they have the same moustache, same tail and pectoral fins, same crown-shaped dorsal fin, same fish lips and same segmented body. Dragonair and dragonite are less similar, but they have the same gentle expression, horn on their head and soft rounded shapes. I think Dragonair evolving into gyarados would be more out of place than dragonite
Right on the money with that one. Literally just started because their colors and took off from there. It's kind of dumb how many people believe the switch theory
Exactly, make Gyarados red and literally no one would’ve ever considered this ever. On top of that, the reason for the colour change between dragonair and dragonite is fairly logical, going from a somewhat larval serpent thing that lives in the water, which makes sense to be blue, to being a fire-breathing, flying dragon, it makes sense to therefore make it orange so that it feels it fits the theme more. I’ve always had a particular hatred for this rumour, it makes literally no sense.
@@thedaniel4999 Yeah I agree with that one too. butterfree and venonat share specific features the same way magikarp and gyarados do. Plus the switch makes sense there - the caterpie line is very important as an early game tutorial, so it makes sense that devs would be switching it around late in development to get it just right. Blastoise originally being from a separate evolution line is pretty much confirmed so it's not really a theory, but that's another line where a switch clearly happened.
Sameee Though i tried the 0.75 speed and i couldnt bear it, was way too slow sometimes. But if one could do 0.90 (here in mobile i cant) that would be perfect
If you were to do this for all generations I would watch every minute. I've always enjoyed your fairly objective critiques. I like that you even mentioned how seal and dewgong are based on fountains which a lot of other people miss.
I will not take the umbreon slander, it has a smooth slick design, the almost all black makes it look like an exellent nocturnal hunter and the yellow circles makes him also look mistycal, he s an easy A, but for me its an easy S
Awesome thoughts. Each so concise, insightful, and funny. You use it to highlight overall design trends in Gen 1 designs if you plan to do other generations, I can't wait.
Sandshrew's based on a pangolin moreso than an armadillo, though the animals are similar enough that what you'll see is down to which of the two you're more familiar with. Also, Wigglytuff (and the Nidos) are Moon Rabbits. That's why they use Moon Stones to evolve. A few of the original designers for Pokemon had similar ideas and all ended up doing their own take on 'moon creature' informed by Japanese culture, I assume. That's also how we got Azumarill in Gen 2!
@@bobtheball5384 I am taking the opposing stance of thinking that the soft heart shape takes away one of the key design features. The sharp lightning tail is important. The only use of a rounded bolt is to ease in the Alolan Raichu, which isn't gender exclusively female.
i haven't thought about gyrados specifically, but dragonite has always ruined the dratini line. before him the line is elegant and has a consistent form.
I would absolutely love to see an actual tier list! Maybe it's my ADHD, but it's hard to remember what pokemon gets what grade and seeing all A grade ones at once would definitely help. Also this is my favourite series of yours and your Dratini/Magikarp rant gives me LIFE.
I have always like Raichu more than Pikachu. It doesn’t get much love as it deserves and I think they both get more hate than deserved too, I think neither are actually all that bad in battles.
Most people I hear prefer the Alolan form of vulpix/ninetales, but for me the original design is so much better. Ninetales specifically looks more majestic and menacing at the same time with the smaller red eyes and more defined tail. And I say this as someone who never used them on a playthrough because I'd prefer using either Arcanine or Charizard (or another fire type for other gens). I think Kantonian ninetales had the bad luck of having other popular fire options, but it's an amazing pokemon for me
any fire type that can make solarbeam work for me is my favorite fire type, same reason i like magmortar more than most people. but even as a kid with no knowledge of good type coverage, ninetales was top two for me
I’m very happy that you seem motivated to move onto gen 2 ! It’s a very nice series and It’s always somewhat heartwarming to see it pop on my feed~ Can’t wait for gen 3 :>
Not a lot of UA-cam content keeps my attention, but I could listen to yours for hours! Something about your voice and how succinctly and eloquently you put your thoughts together is mesmerizing, and I appreciate it 😊♥️
The one thing I would add to Ditto is the additional nightmare fuel lore hints that Ditto's are the failed attempts to create Mewtwo on Cinnabar Island (where Ditto's are a dime a dozen), and under that lens they're more something you'd find in Made In Abyss than a kids "catch 'em all" game.
Mewtwo and Mew have the same colour schemes. Ditto has got another one. Shiny Ditto is also not the same. Talks with the devs show that the design similarities were unintentional. Even the lore part of Ditto in the place were Mewtwo was made was incidental. The choice of location for the Ditto encounters were not because of lore. The creators say that Ditto is not related to the creation of Mewtwo. Many of them were surprised when they heard the fan theory.
The lines on machoke's arms are because it's muscles are growing so large they are literally splitting its skin open. The pants are a power dampening belt that it has to wear to keep its strength in check.
I came for these when I first saw you review the Arbok line, and that led to me exploring pretty much all of your content. You're presentation of design philosophy is fascinating and I genuinely think I understand how to design my characters better now. Thanks for all that you do, Skyen!
I'm a bit sad you used the Shiny colorations for Alolan Grimer and Muk instead of the normal colors, since I think it's SIGNIFICANTLY more interesting! Living slime is one thing, but has so many chemicals stewing in it that it becomes brightly colored from the chemical reactions, which is a neat way of explaining the difference in colors and the sudden crystals!
Mankey and Primeape are some of my favorite Pokemon from the first gen just because the episodes with them were my first real introduction to Pokemon, and I understand why you don't love their look but I still think they're adorable fluffy little guys. And there are a lot of monkey species that just look like big balls of fluff and are crazy aggressive. My favorite example would be Hamadryas baboons, they're rough little cotton balls!
Im upset you didnt mention the rock paper scizzors theory of the scyther line. Also porygon is clearly a duck but this made me release we have so many duck pokemon
6:15 I assume ratatta and raticate aren’t meant to be domestic rats, which do behave differently from the wild variation. Rats that live in the wild tend to be more aggressive, more rugged, and less cuddly than their domestic counterparts. I do agree however, domestic rats are adorable
14:07 I’m always shocked when people disregard this as a fan theory when the name Genar literally comes from the word doppelgänger. There’s a reason the name didn’t change between Japan and English, and doesn’t sound Japanese, and that’s because it’s German. I might even go as far as to say Gengar might be a decent part of the reason Poison and fairy interact the way they do, go give THE fairy Pokemon, the one with the type in the name, a weakness to its darker, more insidious counterpart, whereas before the switch, they couldn’t reasonably interact because of their typings, much like you can’t interact with your reflection in a mirror.
I don' t think that's quite true. "Gengar" seems to me to derive from "gjengänger" or "genganger," which is a Scandinavian Germanic word that literally just refers to a ghost. It means "re-walker" or "repeat walker," as in, someone who was dead but who walks again, usually in a haunting.
I found your Gen 3 ratings video and immediately looked to see if you had done other gens because I really love your observations and there’s nothing my brain loves more than a long form ratings video of my long term hyperfixation 😂
10:49 my mind is blown. In 20 years I actually never realised it was a brick pattern 😐 and I used to draw all 151 pokemons back in the day, more than once... I wonder how many design choice I missed in gen1 now. Time to find out!
I've really enjoyed watching the shorts here and there, but it's very nice to watch them back to back like this. Thank you! I'm looking forward to your commentary on the other generations!
58:34 Don't worry, man, I'm with you. When my Dragonair evolved (after weeks of finding a god damn Dratini which was extraordinarily rare in G1, thank you; and getting it up to level) into Dragonite, I considered if it was worth it to reverse to my previous save. Thankfully I only had to grind my Dratini to level up to my team and prevent it from evolving, I already had it on the save.
Im sad to see Umbreon, my favorite eeveelution get kinda shafted here. To my understanding, the yellow loops are meant to evoke reflective strips like you might wear while out walking in the dark to be easily spotted by drivers
15:32 wait. WAIT. I just realized. Is the reason Wigglytuff looks like a rabbit to be a sibling pokemon to the alien from the moon, the Clefairy line?? In Japan there is a legend of a rabbit on the moon, after all, so were they keeping this in mind when designing Wigglytuff?
I always really liked Victreebell. The idea of a man-eating plant that can literally swallow you whole is awesome, and the only reason I never use it shares the same typing as my favorite gen 1 starter Bulbasaur
1:15 the Apple dragon is a word play. The apple is just a shell but the actual Pokemon is the worm inside the apple. The pronunciation worm can also be written as Wyrm i.e. a Dragon. That's why it is a Dragon type.
Various commentary from someone who loves your channel: Machamp and golem represent the idea that traded pokemon borrow from each others traits. Graveler loses its 4 arms and gains a reptilian snout, while machoke loses the snout and gets extra arms. Sandslash probably is based on a pangolin rather than being a chimera
1:05:32 I think the main issue with Umbreon is that where as Espon was designed to embody the slightly otherwordly potential of Psychic types, Umbreon was just designed to be the opposite of Espeon's design which in a lot of ways means it fails and even fails at the basic premise of being an Eeveelution because it's simply not designed to embody its own type. It's not exactly a terrible design though it just doesn't ever feel like what it shouldbe so it has an element of both disappointment and slight blandness. You could definitely change some things about Umbreon thoughand make it a far better design on darkness and shadows, by just making its fur more shadowy and obfuscating and focusing on those red eyes to give it more of that cartoony feel of something unknown peering at you from inside a bush or dark cave etc. Its marking could then also perhaps be a different colour and slightly different pattern alongwith themetically only lighting up when it is actively attacking to give an extra surprise and confusion about just what exactly the shape and size of this thing that pounced out of the shadows really is.
Just quickly saying, I LOVE using Politoed in PMD. Especially as a Zero Isle mon, where you’re reset to L1 when you go in, coz Bubblebeam gives you mad range, hypnosis lets your team body stronger wild opponents and multihit moves (ie, doubleslap) are MAD overpowered in those games.
Im nit gonna rant too much about Blastoise - for my own sanity’s sake. But Blastoise and Wartortle had different designers, and Blastoise was supposed to be in a different evolution line. Which is why Wartortle and Blastoise doesnt at all feel like the same family line. Wartortle was originally supposed to have a very different evolution.
Nice! I'm not that much into shorts, this is perfectly meaty enough to watch while I do chores :p looking forward to reviews of modern pokemon designs if you ever find it to be pertinent
In defense of Charizard being fire/flying, it'd make it neutral to water and break the type triangle, it's rly just a game balancing thing As for Applin, it's not an apple, it's a wyrm *in* an apple, hence Apple - In.
The fire flying fits the Japanese roots of salamanders being the fire animal. Dragons are water animals. They give water and life. Charizard is a flying salamander. Dragonite is the odd one out with its western design tacked on at the end of an evolution line with eastern dragons.
I've another youtuber talk about Alolan Diglett/Dugrtrio pointing out that their hair was probably a reference to Pele's Hair (Pele being the Hawaiian Goddess of volcanoes).
You brought up the Tentacool line's alien aesthetic without addressing Tentacruel's straight up UFO design!! It even gets extra tentacles and a big grabby pincer-beak thing for abducting stuff!
I fully expect once you finished the Paldean pokémon a 10 hour video of all shorts (tho by that time surely another region has release, gen 1 alone took one year)
If 151 (and some others) takes a year, then it’ll probably take 3-4 more years to finish all Pokémon up to gen 9, meaning at least one more generation will have probably released since scarlet/violet
Don't know why I did this just felt like providing the chapter timestamps. T B Skyen do with them what you will.
0:00 - Bulbasaur Line
0:53 - Charmander Line
1:47 - Squirtle Line
2:41 - Caterpie Line
3:35 - Weedle Line
4:29 - Pidgey Line
5:22 - Rattata Line
6:16 - Spearow Line
7:10 - Ekans Line
8:03 - Pikachu Line
9:50 - YT Self Promotion
10:38 - Sandshrew Line
11:32 - Nidoran♀Line
12:26 - Nidoran♂Line
13:19 - Clefairy Line
14:13 - Vulpix Line
15:07 - Jigglypuff Line
16:01 - Zubat Line
16:54 - Oddish Line
17:48 - Paras Line
18:42 - Venonat Line
19:36 - Diglett Line
20:30 - Meowth Line
21:24 - Psyduck Line
22:17 - Mankey Line
23:09 - Growlithe Line
24:02 - Poliwag Line
24:56 - Abra Line
25:50 - Machop Line
26:44 - Bellsprout Line
27:38 - Tentacool Line
28:32 - Geodude Line
29:26 - Ponyta Line
30:19 - Slowpoke Line
31:13 - Magnemite Line
32:05 - Farfetch'd
32:58 - Doduo Line
33:50 - Seel Line
34:39 - Grimer Line
35:32 - Shellder Line
36:25 - Gastly Line
37:17 - Onix Line
38:08 - Drowzee Line
39:03 - Krabby Line
39:56 - Voltorb Line
40:50 - Exeggcute Line
41:44 - Cubone Line
42:37 - Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee Line
43:30 - Lickitung Line
44:24 - Koffing Line
45:17 - Rhyhorn Line
46:11 - Chansey Line
47:04 - Tangela Line
47:58 - Kangaskhan
48:52 - Horsea Line
49:46 - Goldeen Line
50:40 - Staryu Line
51:33 - Mr. Mime Line
52:27 - Scyther Line
53:21 - Jynx Line
54:15 - Electabuzz Line
55:10 - Magmar Line
56:02 - Pinsir
56:56 - Tauros
57:54 - Magikarp Line
58:55 - Lapras
59:48 - Ditto
1:00:43 - Eevee
1:01:37 - Vaporeon
1:02:31 - Jolteon
1:03:21 - Flareon
1:04:12 - Espeon
1:05:06 - Umbreon
1:05:59 - Leafeon
1:06:50 - Glaceon
1:07:43 - Sylveon
1:08:36 - Porygon Line
1:09:30 - Omanyte Line
1:10:24 - Kabuto Line
1:11:18 - Aerodactyl
1:12:11 - Snorlax Line
1:13:05 - Articuno
1:13:59 - Zapdos
1:14:53 - Moltres
1:15:45 - Dratini Line
1:16:38 - Mewtwo
1:17:31 - Mew
Slightly disappointed Ditto isn't timestamped as Award Bait Song
You're good folk.
Something about a list of the initial 151 Pokémon just tickles my fancies. Reminds me of the old posters of the first gen id have on my wall when I was like 9
Capeless hero!!
for Ekans it makes sense that there are no visible fangs as snakes don't have fangs that peak outside of their mouths like sabertooths, the only time we really ever see ekans with fangs is in the cartoon but in game it's probably harder to show fangs inside of a mouth during attack animations.
Im ready for: “The gen 1 design policy its to take normal animals y and make them kinda cool” 151 times XD
"League champions were created to embody archetypes not to challenge them".... 2!
To be fair, he also sang about Ditto and gushed about Tangela being great for a few minutes
Stoatle missplay
I like to imagine that these are the field notes of a Pokémon researcher.
1:16
Fun fact: applin is a dragon type because of a joke
Since apples are always associated with having worms inside of them… they made applin a dragon type because the word “worm” sounds exactly like “wyrm” a mythical creature which is basically a dragon just kissing a few legs I believe
yeah a wurm is just dragon but snake also haha kissing typo
the legs after 9 months: 🫃
Damn so a leg kink is all it takes to become a wyrm 😮
"Dragon Ball Donald Duck" has now somehow made me like Golduck if for nothing else than that joke.
Regarding the yellow rings on Umbreon. In the beta for pokemon gold and silver, Umbreon was originally supposed to be a poison type, not a dark type. They probably based the rings on how some poisonous animals have bright colors to show predators that they are poisonous.
That would make sense. There's a rl octopus that has rings on its skin and is poisonous to touch, plus bioluminescent chemicals are generally toxic to ingest so combining those on a would-be poison type would be creative. Though at least the rings still work as conveying a glowstick vibe like a visual cue to avoid being bumped into at night.
@@feiradragon7915 I know this is several months late, but overtime they gradually made the inner section of the rings narrower so now they look like eyes in the dark. Which I think is a super cool way to slightly modify the design to work more for its type
@@thebestpilot7 I never noticed that. Cool.
The idea of the poison type Umbreon was before the original games came out, during the beta. So the name planned could have been different. Also, the official Japanese name of Umbreon is "Blacky". Back then, they would release the pokemon games in Japan a year or some months before other countries. This means that the name of Umbreon for the English name was chosen after Umbreon was decided to be a dark type.@@CraftsmanOfAwsomenes
Doesn't it just mean something like the light in the dark? Or is it something like ringlights?
Boy did my bro Umbreon dirty. I'm of the absolute opposite opinion, I think the yellow doesn't look tacked on at all and the shapes provide an excellent contrast to the black fur, making the observer think of flashlights in the dark, fireflies in a nighttime field, or the moon and stars contrasted against the night sky.
I look at Umbreon and I see a member of the Midnight Crew- this Pokemon isn't evil, or even mischievous, but it is absolutely a night owl and it loves prowling through the quiet and solitude of street lamps illuminating empty nighttime streets when everyone else is asleep- the slinking alley cat to the refined, demure chic of Espeon.
from the way he described espeon as well, I kinda think he just, like, missed the boat on their whole 'Sunlight vs Moonlight' gimmick.
@@ElvesvsShinyRocks Yeah the Sunlight and Moonlight split between them is what makes the yellow moon like markings on Umbreon make sense.
THANK YOU. Between Umbreon and Arcanine both getting low scores I was about to riot
What other Pokemon are part of the midnight crew?
He had quite some controversial opinions about some of the fan favourites. I didn't agree with arcanine and Joleon either. Also, Joleon is nowhere near the worst option as an electric type in Kanto. I would always choose it over the overrated mascot and other late game electric types.
I believ the Pokémon that bites Slowbro's tail is actually an unused one from an earlier/beta build rather than a Shellder. They kept the design and claimed it was a Shellder once they dropped that Pokémon from the game. I also believe said beta revealed a different final form for the Squirtle line, with Blastoise being from a separate one, then those two got merged into the one we have today, scrapping the others.
it's funny that you mentioned that Nidoran F aren't directly based on any animal found in nature. Earlier this year, I woke up at about 2am. Got up to use the bathroom. Got back to bed and just as I was about to fall back to sleep, it hit me. Nidorans are rabbits.
Needless to say, I could not sleep after that revelation.
Okay smart guy with the big brain and the multiple brain cells
can you explain to me why SandSHREW, who resembles a pangolin and evolves into a hedgehog, is categorised as the 'mouse' pokemon?
checkmate athiests
Lagomorphs would be a helpful word for this sort of description. Good catch tho. I think the further Nidoran evolutions made it hard to spot.
Before your mind is made up, look at the Godzilla villain Baragon. They are almost a perfect match.
@@nickshane5985 I’ve always nicknamed my Nidokings Baragon haha
I mean… the old sprites in Gen 1 had Nidoran with weirdly long legs and ears. So I always assumed they were rabbits.
The edgier characterization of mr mime in détective pikachu made him less creepy, and in swsh onwards, he's got that animation of sitting in a couch and drinking a beer that makes him more charming
Yeah but that just brings him to creepy uncle territory at best
@@ExpandDong420 Creepy Uncle? That's no way to talk about Ash's dad.
i still think its creepy bc it ‘ s seeing ash ‘ s mom
For Alolan Marowak the ghostly flamedancer element comes the cultural significance on that kind of traditional dance in that flame dances are a way of honoring the spirits, preparing for war and celebrating life in Polynesian culture and given that Morowak is already so tied to mourning conceptually having a final evolution that can properly bring closure to the life lost while celebrating the life it still has is a really nice full circle moment that ties both the pokemon and the region together in a very resonant way while also being really cool.
MAROWAK IS SPELLED WITH 2 A'S THE SECOND TIME, NOT 2 O'S!
thank you for explaining this! i was pretty upset that they thought the idea &design seemed out of place, when it fits beautifully and is a perfect regional variant for marowak!
Fun fact: these shorts are how I first discovered you, and by extension, everything I know about League of Legends lore. Thanks!
Me to
Same
To me it was his Renata Glass short and vid
I always thought Koffing and Weezing were based off of underwater mines, with how they can self destruct and look unstable
Jigglypuff and Clefairy lines being siblings means that Wigglytuff having rabbit features makes sense. In Japan, rabbits are accociated with the moon, so while Clefairy fell to Kanto from the moon, Jigglypuff lived in Kanto and lived alongside them after they landed, picking up moon-based evolution in the process.
I'm glad someone else noticed that
Bellsprout is still my favorite pokemon to this very day, and your segment here about its evolution line absolutely slew me. SCREAMING FLYING BANANA
A note about porygon-z: his limbs are not just in random order, but look like axis you see in any 3d software: X, Y and Z. So basically he's just going in the new dimention and is continuation of the joke.
A note about Muk; Alolan Muk LOOKS more ferocious, but in actuality it's way more friendly! Assuming you feed it. The Moon entry says it's very friendly, but if you don't feel it properly it'll smash your furniture and devour the pieces
So it's basically a slime cat, neat.
Galarian Zapdos is actually based on a road runner! Its great because Zapdos is my favorite legendary and growing up in Nevada where they are fairly common makes the whole line perfect to me!
What I think's missing here is how these designs communicate and interact with the gameplay.
There's a noticeable trend towards to more dangerous pokemon as you go down the line. Subtley increasing the stakes of the journey while communicatimg your player character's increasing power as the world throws far more deadly looking threats at you.
It's starts early as spearow being far more predatory than pidgey. Even meoth communicates this being an early-mid rattata. Upping the ante by being a cat instead of a rat. I'd argue even venonat commuicates more danger than weedle or catterpie.
This caps out with the legendary birds and mewtwo bringing your journey in contact with the mythical and demigodly
This progession is even hinted at by the rarer 5% pokemon you find early on. Sticking around in early areas shows you a hint of the world's higher power.
I don’t really believe the gyarados and dragonite were switched theory anymore. The similarities between dratini and gyarados are pretty surface level (they are both serpentine dragons, they are both blue) but gyarados and magikarp share various features that make it clear they were designed to go together (they have the same moustache, same tail and pectoral fins, same crown-shaped dorsal fin, same fish lips and same segmented body. Dragonair and dragonite are less similar, but they have the same gentle expression, horn on their head and soft rounded shapes. I think Dragonair evolving into gyarados would be more out of place than dragonite
Right on the money with that one. Literally just started because their colors and took off from there. It's kind of dumb how many people believe the switch theory
Exactly, make Gyarados red and literally no one would’ve ever considered this ever.
On top of that, the reason for the colour change between dragonair and dragonite is fairly logical, going from a somewhat larval serpent thing that lives in the water, which makes sense to be blue, to being a fire-breathing, flying dragon, it makes sense to therefore make it orange so that it feels it fits the theme more.
I’ve always had a particular hatred for this rumour, it makes literally no sense.
I agree, the only switched in development theory in the original 151 that I’m convinced about personally is that Venomoth and Butterfree were switched
@@thedaniel4999 Yeah I agree with that one too. butterfree and venonat share specific features the same way magikarp and gyarados do. Plus the switch makes sense there - the caterpie line is very important as an early game tutorial, so it makes sense that devs would be switching it around late in development to get it just right. Blastoise originally being from a separate evolution line is pretty much confirmed so it's not really a theory, but that's another line where a switch clearly happened.
Fun fact you're not wrong about Staryu/Starmie being something other than just starfish. They're considered extraterrestrial in the later gens.
Hearing you speaking in the shorts speed for an hour while being used to watch the longer vid in the background feels like I'm having a seizure
I feel the same towards his normal videos because I only watch his shorts
You can play the video at 0,75 speed. There ae some moments that it sounds kinda weird, but when he's speaking REALLY FAST it gets normal.
Sameee
Though i tried the 0.75 speed and i couldnt bear it, was way too slow sometimes. But if one could do 0.90 (here in mobile i cant) that would be perfect
or just be me and listen to everything at 2.5x speed as my base speed
@@Seergun I think you have some anxiety problems, or too little freetime.
If you were to do this for all generations I would watch every minute. I've always enjoyed your fairly objective critiques. I like that you even mentioned how seal and dewgong are based on fountains which a lot of other people miss.
26:48 the SCREAMING FLYING BANANA is my sleep paralysis demon
I will not take the umbreon slander, it has a smooth slick design, the almost all black makes it look like an exellent nocturnal hunter and the yellow circles makes him also look mistycal, he s an easy A, but for me its an easy S
You forgot to mention that Gigantamax Lapras, with its multi-tiered shell design, looks quite a bit like a cruise ship or ocean liner.
Awesome thoughts. Each so concise, insightful, and funny. You use it to highlight overall design trends in Gen 1 designs if you plan to do other generations, I can't wait.
And so I get another opportunity to request a full cover of the Gigolo song you sang part of for Ditto.
Same
His voice is so pretty lol
Sandshrew's based on a pangolin moreso than an armadillo, though the animals are similar enough that what you'll see is down to which of the two you're more familiar with.
Also, Wigglytuff (and the Nidos) are Moon Rabbits. That's why they use Moon Stones to evolve. A few of the original designers for Pokemon had similar ideas and all ended up doing their own take on 'moon creature' informed by Japanese culture, I assume. That's also how we got Azumarill in Gen 2!
8:30 female pikachu is adorable with the 2 bumps mimicking a heart
Ditto, it's one of the gender differences that I like looking for in pokemon ngl
@@bobtheball5384 I am taking the opposing stance of thinking that the soft heart shape takes away one of the key design features. The sharp lightning tail is important.
The only use of a rounded bolt is to ease in the Alolan Raichu, which isn't gender exclusively female.
Loved the magikarp/dragonite/dratini/gyarados um.... "discussion" lol
Had never thought about it before!
i haven't thought about gyrados specifically, but dragonite has always ruined the dratini line. before him the line is elegant and has a consistent form.
Except, Gyarados is segmented and rough, like Magikarp, while Dragonite is friend-shaped and smooth-looking like its preevolutions
I would absolutely love to see an actual tier list! Maybe it's my ADHD, but it's hard to remember what pokemon gets what grade and seeing all A grade ones at once would definitely help. Also this is my favourite series of yours and your Dratini/Magikarp rant gives me LIFE.
Someone did compile all the grades in a chart: twitter.com/Laretiaz/status/1583516007188303872
@@TBSkyen oh wow, thank you for letting me know!
I have always like Raichu more than Pikachu. It doesn’t get much love as it deserves and I think they both get more hate than deserved too, I think neither are actually all that bad in battles.
Most people I hear prefer the Alolan form of vulpix/ninetales, but for me the original design is so much better. Ninetales specifically looks more majestic and menacing at the same time with the smaller red eyes and more defined tail. And I say this as someone who never used them on a playthrough because I'd prefer using either Arcanine or Charizard (or another fire type for other gens). I think Kantonian ninetales had the bad luck of having other popular fire options, but it's an amazing pokemon for me
any fire type that can make solarbeam work for me is my favorite fire type, same reason i like magmortar more than most people. but even as a kid with no knowledge of good type coverage, ninetales was top two for me
I’m very happy that you seem motivated to move onto gen 2 ! It’s a very nice series and It’s always somewhat heartwarming to see it pop on my feed~
Can’t wait for gen 3 :>
I like hes like
'Ok cannons are fucking cool'
'Ok 3 is a bit much it looks dumb'
'OK A WHOLE SHELL OF CANNONES NOW WERE TALKING'
THE MUSICAL INTERLUDE IS SO UNEXPECTED BUT WELCOME OMG IT'S SO CUTE
I paused Starman on Spotify to continue watching the Staryu/Starmie reviews, and I lowkey freaked out when you quoted the chorus! LOL
Not a lot of UA-cam content keeps my attention, but I could listen to yours for hours! Something about your voice and how succinctly and eloquently you put your thoughts together is mesmerizing, and I appreciate it 😊♥️
Bleeping the swear word with politoed's cry at 24:38 is genius
Even if I didn’t agree with many of the rankings the analysis was fantastic and the format great. Good work on this one!
The one thing I would add to Ditto is the additional nightmare fuel lore hints that Ditto's are the failed attempts to create Mewtwo on Cinnabar Island (where Ditto's are a dime a dozen), and under that lens they're more something you'd find in Made In Abyss than a kids "catch 'em all" game.
Dunno, they seem natural enough
Mewtwo and Mew have the same colour schemes. Ditto has got another one. Shiny Ditto is also not the same. Talks with the devs show that the design similarities were unintentional. Even the lore part of Ditto in the place were Mewtwo was made was incidental. The choice of location for the Ditto encounters were not because of lore.
The creators say that Ditto is not related to the creation of Mewtwo. Many of them were surprised when they heard the fan theory.
The lines on machoke's arms are because it's muscles are growing so large they are literally splitting its skin open. The pants are a power dampening belt that it has to wear to keep its strength in check.
The belt is the power dampening belt. The pants are actually just part of it's skin.
I came for these when I first saw you review the Arbok line, and that led to me exploring pretty much all of your content. You're presentation of design philosophy is fascinating and I genuinely think I understand how to design my characters better now.
Thanks for all that you do, Skyen!
I'm a bit sad you used the Shiny colorations for Alolan Grimer and Muk instead of the normal colors, since I think it's SIGNIFICANTLY more interesting! Living slime is one thing, but has so many chemicals stewing in it that it becomes brightly colored from the chemical reactions, which is a neat way of explaining the difference in colors and the sudden crystals!
He was unable to find 3d models for the regular coloration
He used shiny models for all allolan varients
I assume you will once again withhold the surperior one minute version from us.
I crave its superior information density.
Mankey and Primeape are some of my favorite Pokemon from the first gen just because the episodes with them were my first real introduction to Pokemon, and I understand why you don't love their look but I still think they're adorable fluffy little guys. And there are a lot of monkey species that just look like big balls of fluff and are crazy aggressive. My favorite example would be Hamadryas baboons, they're rough little cotton balls!
Im upset you didnt mention the rock paper scizzors theory of the scyther line. Also porygon is clearly a duck but this made me release we have so many duck pokemon
The bellsprout line creeped the fuck out of me as a kid. Hated facing them
I was unprepared for 26:45 and had to pause the video to cry-laugh
59:50 can we talk about how you’re singing voice is kinda fire? 🔥
6:15 I assume ratatta and raticate aren’t meant to be domestic rats, which do behave differently from the wild variation. Rats that live in the wild tend to be more aggressive, more rugged, and less cuddly than their domestic counterparts. I do agree however, domestic rats are adorable
14:07
I’m always shocked when people disregard this as a fan theory when the name Genar literally comes from the word doppelgänger. There’s a reason the name didn’t change between Japan and English, and doesn’t sound Japanese, and that’s because it’s German.
I might even go as far as to say Gengar might be a decent part of the reason Poison and fairy interact the way they do, go give THE fairy Pokemon, the one with the type in the name, a weakness to its darker, more insidious counterpart, whereas before the switch, they couldn’t reasonably interact because of their typings, much like you can’t interact with your reflection in a mirror.
I don' t think that's quite true. "Gengar" seems to me to derive from "gjengänger" or "genganger," which is a Scandinavian Germanic word that literally just refers to a ghost. It means "re-walker" or "repeat walker," as in, someone who was dead but who walks again, usually in a haunting.
@@TBSkyen huh. That I didn’t know. It could absolutely be both, and I guess we’ll never know bc Game Freak hates confirming anything 😕
I found your Gen 3 ratings video and immediately looked to see if you had done other gens because I really love your observations and there’s nothing my brain loves more than a long form ratings video of my long term hyperfixation 😂
10:49 my mind is blown. In 20 years I actually never realised it was a brick pattern 😐 and I used to draw all 151 pokemons back in the day, more than once...
I wonder how many design choice I missed in gen1 now. Time to find out!
I've really enjoyed watching the shorts here and there, but it's very nice to watch them back to back like this. Thank you! I'm looking forward to your commentary on the other generations!
58:34 Don't worry, man, I'm with you. When my Dragonair evolved (after weeks of finding a god damn Dratini which was extraordinarily rare in G1, thank you; and getting it up to level) into Dragonite, I considered if it was worth it to reverse to my previous save. Thankfully I only had to grind my Dratini to level up to my team and prevent it from evolving, I already had it on the save.
Dude fuckin “SCREAMING FLYING BANANA” is the funniest thing I’ve seen/heard in a very long time
I DIE every time the "SCREAMING FLYING BANANA!" line comes up! 😂🤣😂🤣
My fav pokemons from gen1
- Ninetails, Magmar, Scyther, Lapras, Vaporeon, Bulbasaur, Ponyta, Pikachu, Mewtwo and Moltres
Runner-ups
- Snorlax, Sandshrew/Sandslash, Kabuto, Oddish, Flareon, Electabuzz, Psyduck, Haunter, Tangela, Gyarados, Abra, Dragonite, Charmander, Squirtle, Raichu, Ditto, Articuno and Mew
Im sad to see Umbreon, my favorite eeveelution get kinda shafted here. To my understanding, the yellow loops are meant to evoke reflective strips like you might wear while out walking in the dark to be easily spotted by drivers
Yeah, I've heard 6 or 8 different explanations of them at this point
I don't know why but 'What if horse...but on fire?' Made me laugh so damn hard
15:32 wait. WAIT. I just realized. Is the reason Wigglytuff looks like a rabbit to be a sibling pokemon to the alien from the moon, the Clefairy line?? In Japan there is a legend of a rabbit on the moon, after all, so were they keeping this in mind when designing Wigglytuff?
19:30 A romhack fixing the Venonat/Caterpie evolutions? Easily done tbh. I could make you one if you actually want it.
I always really liked Victreebell. The idea of a man-eating plant that can literally swallow you whole is awesome, and the only reason I never use it shares the same typing as my favorite gen 1 starter Bulbasaur
20:30
"What else can you do with diglet"
Wiglet: MY TIME HAS COME.
I really enjoyed this series! Thanks, Skyen!
1:15 the Apple dragon is a word play. The apple is just a shell but the actual Pokemon is the worm inside the apple. The pronunciation worm can also be written as Wyrm i.e. a Dragon. That's why it is a Dragon type.
I could not contain my laughter at the Cloyster part xD
Various commentary from someone who loves your channel:
Machamp and golem represent the idea that traded pokemon borrow from each others traits. Graveler loses its 4 arms and gains a reptilian snout, while machoke loses the snout and gets extra arms.
Sandslash probably is based on a pangolin rather than being a chimera
1:05:32
I think the main issue with Umbreon is that where as Espon was designed to embody the slightly otherwordly potential of Psychic types, Umbreon was just designed to be the opposite of Espeon's design which in a lot of ways means it fails and even fails at the basic premise of being an Eeveelution because it's simply not designed to embody its own type.
It's not exactly a terrible design though it just doesn't ever feel like what it shouldbe so it has an element of both disappointment and slight blandness.
You could definitely change some things about Umbreon thoughand make it a far better design on darkness and shadows, by just making its fur more shadowy and obfuscating and focusing on those red eyes to give it more of that cartoony feel of something unknown peering at you from inside a bush or dark cave etc. Its marking could then also perhaps be a different colour and slightly different pattern alongwith themetically only lighting up when it is actively attacking to give an extra surprise and confusion about just what exactly the shape and size of this thing that pounced out of the shadows really is.
Just quickly saying, I LOVE using Politoed in PMD. Especially as a Zero Isle mon, where you’re reset to L1 when you go in, coz Bubblebeam gives you mad range, hypnosis lets your team body stronger wild opponents and multihit moves (ie, doubleslap) are MAD overpowered in those games.
"What if... horse... but on fire? It's a simple concept but it's a strong one"
I think I've heard this joker monologue before
Im nit gonna rant too much about Blastoise - for my own sanity’s sake. But Blastoise and Wartortle had different designers, and Blastoise was supposed to be in a different evolution line. Which is why Wartortle and Blastoise doesnt at all feel like the same family line. Wartortle was originally supposed to have a very different evolution.
Applin is a Wyrm (a Serpentine Dragon) that hides inside an Apple as a form of defense
Everyone who's seen early spongebob growing up knows what a butterfly looks like close up and it is as rough as advertised
exactly what i thought of lol
Holy shit, the reference to that old Geodude meme hit a real dusty spot in my brain
I always thought that sandshrew to sandslash went from a armadillo to a pangolin
Charmeleon is Zuko before he became the Fire Lord
Nice! I'm not that much into shorts, this is perfectly meaty enough to watch while I do chores :p looking forward to reviews of modern pokemon designs if you ever find it to be pertinent
In defense of Charizard being fire/flying, it'd make it neutral to water and break the type triangle, it's rly just a game balancing thing
As for Applin, it's not an apple, it's a wyrm *in* an apple, hence Apple - In.
The fire flying fits the Japanese roots of salamanders being the fire animal. Dragons are water animals. They give water and life. Charizard is a flying salamander.
Dragonite is the odd one out with its western design tacked on at the end of an evolution line with eastern dragons.
Fire/ Dragon would would probably have been more broken than Psychics were in Gen 1.
48:17 I actually like this. I wish more lines were similar like this
To be clear, their are tadpoles that have a wierd trait that they do not reach the "frog" state of their lifespan and are forever tadpoles.
The infamous truck made it in 🤣 I CAN'T!
59:50 LMAO!!!!! I LAUGHED SO HARD...CUZ I ALREADY KNEW!!!😂😂😂😂😂
I've another youtuber talk about Alolan Diglett/Dugrtrio pointing out that their hair was probably a reference to Pele's Hair (Pele being the Hawaiian Goddess of volcanoes).
And the metal "hairs" that can be found on said volcanoes.
the ditto song gave me life 😅
god i love that ditto song
Great stuff; definitely cracked up with your whole Gyarados theory and...Ditto.
Skyen silly voice timestamps because it makes me laugh:
1:26 Charmeleon
26:49 Weepingbell
52:22 Mr Rime
59:49 Ditto
1:11:56 Mega Aerodactyl
"Yeh for sure gyarados and dragonite are weird evos but i wont agree with you ever"
1 minute later:
OH NO HE IS RIGHT
bro got to umbreon and I was like oh yeah he's gonna love it, and he was like 🦗🦗🦗🦗but then got to LEAFEON and was like 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
You brought up the Tentacool line's alien aesthetic without addressing Tentacruel's straight up UFO design!! It even gets extra tentacles and a big grabby pincer-beak thing for abducting stuff!
Aerodactyl is supposed to be a gargoyle mixed with a pterodactyl hence its rock typing.
I thought it was just a "fossils are stones" thing.
@@JaharNarishma hmm. Column a column b maybe.
The caterpie and vennonet argument actually made sense; you blew my mind there!!!
IT'S VENONAT, NOY VENNONET!
Isn’t the bulbasaur line frogs ? Lol I know the name ends in saur but they look like frogs and it makes more sense with turtle, lizard, and frogs
They are like, frog dinosaurs or something
Ngl frogs are amphibians but uh yeah im pretty sure bulbs is supposed to resemble a dinosaur, it having claws instead of fins kinda help with that
Espeon's tail is supposed to be an allusion to dousing rods and magic wands.
ILLUSION DOES NOT START WITH AN A, IT STARTS WITH AN I! *FIX IT NOW!*
I fully expect once you finished the Paldean pokémon a 10 hour video of all shorts (tho by that time surely another region has release, gen 1 alone took one year)
If 151 (and some others) takes a year, then it’ll probably take 3-4 more years to finish all Pokémon up to gen 9, meaning at least one more generation will have probably released since scarlet/violet
The circles on Umbreon symbolize an eclipse to me. The bright circle around the black of a blocked out sun.
I like that you included the evolutions added on in later generations.