The Explosion and Fallout of Pokémon Uranium

Blog Post by Involuntary Twitch

This is a long story, so let’s start with the obvious.

On August 6, 2016, after months of work on testing, refining, and fixing the game, the Uranium Team published the full version of Pokémon Uranium, a fan-made Pokémon game, for free to the internet. What followed was an unprecedented series of events, which we could have never truly prepared for, that would change all our lives, affect thousands of people – and perhaps even reach the creators of Pokémon itself.

Fakeathon Recap

30 days later and here we are! It’s been an exciting June, with E3 and lots of exciting Pokémon Sun and Moon information coming at us constantly. In fact, today they revealed 7 more official Pokémon designs. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for a celebration of what makes Pokémon so special to all of us: the weird, diverse, and lovable creatures that inhabit its world.

But enough about that; let’s talk Fakemon!

The Great June 2016 Fakeathon – A Recap

The Great June Fakeathon 2016

A Pokémon Sun and Moon – themed Fakemon Challenge

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What is a Fakeathon?

A Fakeathon is a monthly art challenge that began with the Faketober Challenge in 2015. The concept is simple: design & draw at least one new fakemon a day, for 30 days, based on daily prompts revolving around a theme. You can use any medium: traditional art, digital art, pixel art, whatever. Additional details, such as names, types, stats, etc. are entirely optional and up to you!

 

How do I participate? Are there any requirements?

Anyone can partake in a Fakeathon! Simply follow the prompt provided for that day – or pick & choose whichever prompts you like! You don’t have to be a serious artist or spend a lot of time on it. You aren’t required to do all 30 fakemon, either – it’s just for fun. Share your designs with others using the #Fakeathon tag on Twitter, Tumblr and DeviantArt.

Spread the love of Pokémon, and let’s ride the Sun and Moon hype train all together!

 

Daily Prompts

Theme: Hawaiian Flora & Fauna

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Day 1 – evolution(s) for Rowlet
Day 2 – Tiki
Day 3 – Dolphin
Day 4 – Goat
Day 5 – Hibiscus
Day 6 – Frog
Day 7 – evolution(s) for Litten
Day 8 – Sea Slug
Day 9 – Hawk
Day 10 – Palm Tree
Day 11 – Butterfly
Day 12 – Tropical Fish
Day 13 – Pig
Day 14 – evolution(s) for Popplio
Day 15 – Lei
Day 16 – Mongoose
Day 17 – Wolf Spider
Day 18 – Lava
Day 19 – Coffee
Day 20 – Whale
Day 21 – Eeveelution
Day 22 – Seashell
Day 23 – Octopus
Day 24 – Luau
Day 25 – A Tropical-themed forme of an old Pokémon
Day 26 – New Mega Evolution for an old Pokémon
Day 27 – Legendary Trio #1 (volcano)
Day 28 – Legendary Trio #2 (rainforest)
Day 29 – Legendary Trio #3 (ocean)
Day 30 – Legendary based on an eclipse

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To get things started off, I’ll give you a preview of Day 1’s fakemon, the Rowlet evolutions:

Stay tuned for more, & good luck to those of you who are attempting the challenge!

~ Oripoke

Rising Rainbow: A Retrospective

Ahhh, April 2nd. The day we take a deep breath and calm down after all the ridiculousness that goes down on April 1st. This year was no exception, because a collection of creators in the Pokemon Fangame community – myself included – all came together to pull off a massive prank…

On Monday the 28th, shgeldz made a brilliant suggestion: make a fake game announcement on April 1st that claimed to be the “Ultimate Fangame Collaboration” between fan game creators. But, when they clicked the download link, it wouldn’t be the ultimate RPG they were expecting, but rather shgeldz’s parody fangame, Pokemon Meat.

Naturally, given the opportunity for hilarity, almost everyone jumped on board immediately. With a never-before-seen dream team that included shgeldz and Starrcasm from Pokemon Ethereal Gates, Gav from Pokemon Phoenix Rising, Suzerain from Pokemon Insurgence, Amethyst from Pokemon Reborn, Jan from Pokemon Rejuvenation and of course myself and JV from Pokemon Uranium, we began to brainstorm how we were gonna make this work.

Fangame Review: Project S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M

Hi all, and welcome to the latest installment in this blog’s Fangame Review series. Today, we’ll be looking at another project that I played recently, and I will share my thoughts on it. Without any further ado, let’s begin!

Game Thread on Relic Castle

Project S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M (or, Pokémon Spectrum) is a project made by Kojo which has been in the works since February 2014. It currently has a playable demo that goes up to the 2nd gym, with about 6-8 hours of gameplay. As you might be able to guess based on the logo, the game takes place in the Kroma region which is based on Australia, and is home to more than 100 all-new Pokémon species.

The Kroma Region

In this game, you can choose between the starters Taplat, Pyroo and Kokoala, based on a platypus, kangaroo, and koala, naturally. They each gain a secondary typing when they evolve. I quite liked my Pyroo, but it was only one of a great diversity of new Pokémon species that inhabit the region. Fakemon enthusiasts should pay attention to this game, because the monster designs are exceptionally creative. Some of my favorites were…

Olvee – a Normal-type Chameleon Pokémon. The -vee suffix on its name is no coincidence, because like Eevee, it has many different possible evolutions, all with the -eon suffix, like Bouldeon, Phanteon, and Champeon. Between it and Eevee, there is an evolution for every type.

Aychem – an Electric/Normal type artificial Pokémon related to Rotom. Its secondary type changes when it learns a new HM technique. Although the Cut forme is the only one currently available, there will be more formes for it in the future.

Frague – A fairy/poison type evolution of Aromatisse. In addition to fakemon, Spectrum contains many new evos and preevos of existing Pokemon, including Ledian, Ariados, Solrock, Lunatone, Kangaskahn, and more. It evolves with the Rainbow Stone, a new item in the game.

Not only are there more than 100 new Pokemon, but they really come alive with fully-animated sprites, evocative of Pokemon Black and White. In fact, the entire game’s style seems reminiscent of Black and White, albeit with its own unique flair. And of course, spriting so many new Pokemon and animating them, front and back, is no easy task – so many kudos to Kojo for pulling it off. I can say with certainty that the end result is jaw-dropping. Every time I encountered a new kind Pokémon, my reaction was: What is it??? and then, I’ve gotta catch it!

Walking with Pokemon.

The game also brings back the ability to walk alongside your Pokémon in the overworld, a feature I’m sure many players have been missing since HeartGold and SoulSilver. There are even hotkeys to quickly switch around which Pokemon is in front, which makes training them much easier. Although, being able to receive the Exp.Share in the demo would certainly have helped, and is the one thing that I was missing in my journey.

Exploring the Kroma region

The Kroma region where the game takes place is incredibly diverse, and in the short demo, it already covers a wide range of terrains, including forests, farms, caves, cities, beaches, cliffs, and more. No two areas in the game look alike, and the attention to detail in the environments really immerses you in its world. It’s the kind of game that rewards you for exploring and talking to everyone, and there are many secrets to discover if you’re curious and persistent.

In terms of challenge, I found the game not too difficult – although some might disagree. There are certainly some NPCs that might need rebalancing (like that Ninja…), but since this game is still in beta it’s understandable. One thing that might trip up players is the first gym, which uses a fixed-damage move that will absolutely destroy an unprepared team. However, there is an easy solution, and that’s to evolve your starter beforehand and raise multiple different kinds of Pokémon. After doing that, the first gym was not all that troubling. It can be rewarding to raise different kinds of Pokemon anyway, simply for the joy of discovering what they might evolve into.

At this stage in its development, the game’s story is only barely beginning to emerge, but it seems different and already I’m intrigued. Who are these mysterious masked people, and what do they want with Shiny Pokémon? It feels like a totally believable story while at the same time seeming completely new. I look forward to finding out more!

I can say without a doubt that this is already a well-made game, even at its early stages of development. Not only that, but recent updates have brought radical improvements to its already solid foundation. Kojo is a talented creator with so many new ideas. I highly recommend giving Project S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M a try if you are a fan of Fakemon, or if you are simply looking for a game that will make you rediscover the joy of having an adventure in an unknown region, with surprises awaiting you wherever you go.

Download Project S.P.E.C.T.R.U.M here

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That’s all for today! Up next on this blog, I plan on doing some pixel art tutorials, which hopefully will be quite helpful. Also, if you are the creator of a fangame with a public playable release, and you’d like for me to take a look at it and perhaps review it, don’t hesitate to contact me – either here, on Twitter, or on RC. I await your messages!

Until Next Time,

~ Oripoke

Fakemon Designs: Jerbolta

Name: Jerbolta
Classification: The Sand Mouse Pokemon
Type: Electric/Ground
Ability: Quick Charge*
Moves: Volt Switch, Dig, Nuzzle, U-Turn, Rollout
Evolution: Does Not Evolve
Dex: The spines on its back stand on end when charged with electric energy. Its cute appearance makes it popular among children and young trainers.

There are some tropes that repeat themselves game after Pokémon game, and one is that every generation has its Pikachu equivalent. At first, I didn’t want to include one in Uranium, because I thought they were too cliché. Over time, though, I realized why they were so popular: electric rodents are super, duper cute. In the end, even I couldn’t resist.

(In-game sprites. 14 colors. In Uranium all backsprites are now fullbody shots.)

 

The Design

Jerbolta’s real-world inspiration is several rodents, most prominently a Jerboa:

D’awww.

Since jerboas are desert creatures, I thought that electric/ground was a fitting type combo, not to mention a nearly-unique one (the only Pokémon that shares it is the unpopular Stunfisk). While I was designing it, I sent a rough draft to a friend, who provided me with the suggestion to enlargen the head, emphasize the spikes, and make the feet skinnier. The result was a ‘mon with a much more distinctive shape.

I enjoy revealing new Pokemon as silhouettes.

Of course, as soon as I posted the teaser, people immediately guessed correctly that it was a Pika clone (or, they compared it to Sonic the Hedgehog). I think that’s a good thing though, that it’s immediately recognizable for what it is, even in silhouette form. When people see this in-game, their first thought is gonna be, “I want to catch it!”

And, courtesy of JV, it gets a new ability (that makes it slightly OP, even considering its base stats):

Quick Charge: Always moves first on the turn it gets sent into battle.

There’s plenty of priority-abusers in the Uranium meta, so Jerbolta has company. I can imagine its super-fast, unblockable Volt Switch will get quite annoying, though.

And, just for fun, have two variants: a Shiny and Nuclear variation!

Today’s entry was short, but I just wanted to show off this design and talk about it a bit. It’s really grown on me and, I’ve been drawing it all over the place ever since (including in the margins of my notes!)

Jerbolta will appear in Pokemon Uranium 1.0, which is coming… sometime this year. :p

Up next is another Fangame Review, so stay tuned for that!

~ Oripoke

Fangame Review: Pokémon Alabaster

Welcome to a new feature on this blog: the Fangame Review. I will examine a Fangame or Fangame project in detail, sharing my thoughts and impressions upon playing the game. I will highlight the things that I think the project did well on, and also give some suggestions on how I think the game might be improved or expanded upon in the future.

Today, we will be looking at the fangame Pokémon Alabaster.

Game Thread on Relic Castle

Alabaster arrived without much fanfare late this past December. Its creator, Alababal, has been working on it since 2014. It is quite a substantial game, with 3 Gyms and an estimated 12-15 hours of gameplay. It takes place in the Nyejo region, an all-new region in the Pokemon world. It does not have Fakemon in it; rather, all 721 Pokemon are planned to be included in the final release. As someone who is always on the watch for promising new game projects, this one caught me off-guard by coming from seemingly out of nowhere with a significantly sized game release.

Its unpretentious exterior conceals a surprisingly well-made game, with a degree of polish the likes of which one seldom sees in fangames. It boasts a unique and original story, full of intrigue and plenty of twists and mysteries that I’m still left wondering about. The writing in this game is very strong, clear and even funny sometimes. Without spoilers, the plot is definitely a lot darker than your average Pokémon game, although the specifics of what happened are only revealed as you progress farther into the story. While it features several “Teams” — the ones I’ve seen so far are Team Tectonic and Team Celestial — their motives appear to be unclear and their morals ambiguous. (Well, Team Celestial anyway, Team Tectonic are a bunch of thugs.) What I think is remarkable about the story is the way it slowly builds around you as you discover more and more about the region and the world. With some pretty intense action sequences and climactic battles already, I can only imagine what lies in store for the future. I’m looking forward to finding out!

The game’s eventing is what allows the story to really shine through: the level of attention paid to small details, like minor NPCs or signposts, serves to immerse the player in the world of the game. I often found myself losing track of time as I played, because I was so curious about what I was going to discover next. It’s clear that the creator has put a lot of careful thought and attention into each area of the game, especially the Academy where your journey begins. There are also some truly ingenious puzzles that require the player to think creatively in order to figure out a solution.

It is also quite tough, along the lines of Pokémon Reborn, Rejuvenation, and similar Fangames. Scarce resources and an unconventional selection of starter Pokémon make the game feel sometimes punishingly difficult. But all battles can be won with some determination, and in my experience all that extra challenge simply adds to the feeling of accomplishment you get when you do win. For a veteran Pokémon player, a truly difficult Pokémon RPG can feel like a breath of fresh air since the Canon Pokémon games have gotten easier in the most recent installments. Though, those averse to doing grinding should keep in mind that I found it necessary at several points throughout the game, mostly before a Gym battle. The EXP system (scaling like in Pokemon Black and White) results in a much slower growth curve than I’m used to. Oftentimes, however, it instead encouraged me to think outside of the box and use more nuanced strategies than simple brute force. The game really inspires you to think creatively in order to win.

There are also Level Caps in the game — a controversial design choice — although I seldom if ever actually hit them in my adventuring. (I think I came close just before graduating from Nyejo Academy, but that was it.)

Also worth mentioning is the game’s original soundtrack, composed by the creator Alababal himself and absolutely one of the best parts of the game experience. It fits in perfectly with the 4th gen style, and there are some seriously catchy melodies (I found myself humming the Academy and Battle themes for hours afterwards).

Let’s move on to the Pokémon. It might seem a little strange for me to be reviewing a non-Fakemon game on this blog that is about Fakemon. But I’m willing to set aside my preferences in this case, because the way Pokémon are included in this game is simply wonderful. They really feel like a part of the world, factoring heavily into the story, your characters’ motivations, the setting, etc. I’m always thrilled when I see Pokémon in the overworld; little details such as that are what really immerse you in the game’s world. To my knowledge, the obtainable starters are: Beldum, Togepi, and Larvesta. Any game that lets me start with a cute fire bug is a great game in my book.

Let me see if I can sum up my thoughts on Alabaster into a quick bulleted list:

PROS

• Interesting story that still feels like it’s grounded in the Pokémon world
• Excellent Maps
• Catchy Original Soundtrack
• Challenging gameplay that rewards strategic thinking and patience

CONS

• Requires some grinding
• In-Battle graphics are “meh”
• It’s sometimes not clear where the player should go next
• Still some bugs to iron out (to be expected, it’s only a beta)

 

In Summary

Pokémon Alabaster is an exceptionally well-done fangame, which is worthy of recognition and more appreciation. Its creator, Alababal, has approached the Pokemon game format with imagination and ambition, and has managed to create something wonderful because of it. Although the slow pace and high level of challenge might feel off-putting to some players at first, I encourage them to stick with it despite all that. It is a game that feels very satisfying to play, and absolutely worth giving it a try and sending the creator some love and appreciation for all of his hard work. So, thanks, Alababal, for sharing your game with us — it’s truly something special.

Download Pokémon Alabaster Here 

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That’s it for the first Fangame Review. I plan to do more of these in the future for fangames that catch my interest, not necessarily the most well known ones. If you have any suggestions for games that you would like to see me review, feel free to leave them in the comments below although bear in mind I will pick them at my own discretion.

Okay, peace!

~ Oripoke

2015: Year in Review

Goodness, it’s been a big year, hasn’t it? Between the announcement and release of several new & ambitious fangame projects, to my own personal accomplishments, I think we’ve made a lot of progress this year. So, for my (probably) final blog entry in 2015, let’s look back at all the big and exciting things that happened this year!

January

Technically, this happened at the tail end of 2014, but on December 24, we released Beta 4.0 of Pokemon Uranium:

This was the culmination of several months’ hard work by myself and JV, and it’s an accomplishment that both of us are incredibly proud of. A few days later, news of the new beta got picked up by Kotaku, and suddenly the number of downloads skyrocketed. I was on the beach with my family when I got the news, and I’d never seen anything like the amount of attention it was getting. It felt like such a satisfying payoff for all of our hard work, having people play the game we made and enjoy it.

Now that we’re approaching Beta 4.0’s one year anniversary, looking back on it now it’s amazing how far we’ve come since then. It makes me so incredibly proud of the Uranium team — that includes also Kelo, Mercury, and our wonderfully talented composers ElectricMudkip and Alex Naveira in addition to JV and myself. It’s great that we can all come together based on our shared love of Pokemon and create something wonderful!

February-March

So, it should be said that for the first 4 months of this year, I was actually studying abroad in Mexico, so between the lack of free time + the abundance of interesting non-Internet things to do, I wasn’t exactly the most active on the fakemon / fangames side of things. However, for an example of what I was up to, you can check out my post from March, Fakemon Designs – Alebri:

Also around this time, I started to be very active on Relic Castle, a forum community dedicated to Pokemon fangames. It was great because it created a space for people to share and discuss fangames together.

April-May-June

Around April 13th,  one of my all-time favorite fakemon and sprite artists, SirAquakip, revealed a big new game announcement: Pokemon Ethereal Gates. Not only did the game look amazing in the screenshots, but its development team announced a definitive release date: August 20th! And thus, the hype train rolled out of the station.

It’s changed so much since these early screens :’D

Also, I made some more fakes:

Silchick & Silkatrice

Another notable fangame-related development was the announcement of Pokemon Phoenix Rising, a fangame directed by the uber-talented Gav! Exciting stuff.

July

Now is when things start getting interesting. For starters, I revamped my Twitter identity and started tweeting about fangames like all the cool kids do. I joined the Relic Castle Skype Chat, which was at times a space of interesting discussion about fangames and at other times a vortex of madness and despair, but it kept me sane during my monotonous summer job and let me focus my attention more fully on fangames.

I also connected with Starrcasm, Shgeldz and Aquakip of Ethereal Gates, and even guest-starred on Starrcasm’s LP of my own game, entitled “Drunk Uranium”:

(Warning for language, etc. We’re drunk.)

I started doing semi-regular Livestreams on the Pokemon Uranium Twitch.tv channel (which you should subscribe to if you haven’t already!). Also, I posted some new fakes:

 

Starrmite, Starrnova & Novabyss

 

August

In terms of fangames, August 2015 was huge. For starters, it was the month of the Relic Castle Game Jam, where users were challenged to make a game — any game — in less than a month (which is a lot longer than most game jams!)

The Game Jam yielded some excellent results, including Pokemon Marigold, Pokemon Jeff, Golurk Rising and more. Oh, and I made a game for it, too:

Working on The Secret of Cinnabar Mansion was a fantastic learning experience for me. It was my first time creating and coding a game completely on my own, using the tools in Pokemon Essentials. After working on it, it gave me a better understanding of the capabilities and limitations of the engine, which absolutely came in handy for working on Pokemon Uranium. Plus, the experience of completing an entire, self-contained little story was a big confidence boost. I gained new appreciation for the power of games as a storytelling medium. It’s certainly something I’d like to explore more in the future.

Additionally, I published a new entry to this blog, So You Want To Make a Pokemon Game, a tutorial I felt was a long time coming. Based on the hype that popular fangames such as Insurgence, Reborn and Uranium generate, so many people want to start their own games — and who can blame them? I’d always wanted to make my own Pokemon game since I was really little. Check out that blog entry if you haven’t yet, it’s my favorite one I made this year.

In case you thought the August craziness was over, there was also a podcast over on Radio Whirlwind which featured many creators of popular and up-and-coming games! I represented Pokemon Uranium (since JV was traveling at the time). You can listen in here:

I talk a lot about my fakemon design process, so it’s definitely worth a listen if you want to know more about how I do the things I do.

And finally… Pokemon Ethereal Gates released their 1.0 demo on August 20th!

I can’t overstate how big of a deal this game was for fangames, or how lucky I was to get to be a beta tester for it. Between the amazing custom pixel graphics by SirAquakip to the lush original soundtrack by Sean Petersen, Ethereal Gates stands out as a new standard of quality for fakemon games, as well as fangames in general. If you haven’t played it yet, you can download v1.1 from their website.

And, to cap it all off, I got to meet up with PEG team members Evan and Scott at the Pokemon World Championships in Boston! We got to be some of the first Americans to play Pokken Tournament, got to watch Pokemon battles on the big screen, and then we went and recorded another episode of Drunk Uranium.

September

We released the (most current) beta version of Uranium, which included many improvements and a new playable character, Pluto! You can download it here.

October-November

Avid readers of this blog will know what happened in October: Faketober!

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I designed 28 original fakemon this month! (The last 3 have names and types, but not art: Equinacht [Dark/Dragon], Chaosynth [Bug/Psychic] & Ohmegades [Dark/Ghost].)

For more deets, check out the individual journal entries:

Faketober #1
Faketober #2
Faketober #3
Faketober #4

And then… I kind of went dark for a while! I can explain: For the month of November, I was working on NaNoWriMo, writing a novel that was unrelated to Pokemon. And I finished it! Hooray!

December

…So, wow. Here we are: at the very end of 2015. Where will we go from here?

I can speak for Uranium at least. In the months since our most recent beta release (4.3), the game has undergone a huge graphical revamp, and a whole lot more story content has been added. JV’s re-done almost 100% of the early-game maps, and I’ve been hard at work revamping sprites for a new battle system. It’s not close to being done yet, though, since the next version of the game is planned to be the full game, Pokemon Uranium 1.0.

What I can do is provide some previews of how the game looks now:

Updated Route 01 & Moki Town

There are some other changes that we haven’t revealed yet as well, but take my word for it, the new version of Uranium is reflective of the all the time and dedication we’ve spent on it. I’m not going to promise that you’ll be able to play it any time soon, but at the rate we’re working on it, you can probably expect a full game release… sometime around late 2016? Don’t quote me on that. It’ll be done when it’s done!

As for other stuff to look forward to, Pokemon Phoenix Rising is promising a playable release of their first episode around March-April of next year. Their team is comprised of some of the greatest talents in the fangame community, and they already have a significant amount complete, so you can very much look forward to playing that. Some other fangames that I’m hyped for include Pokemon Tyrian by Deouen and Pokemon Sitnalta by AfroPharaoh. Hopefully 2016 can be as big of a year for Pokemon fangames as 2015 was!

Also, I should note that today is my birthday, so I’m gonna spend the rest of it eating birthday cake and then going to see Star Wars. Happy holidays, everybody!

~ Oripoke

Faketober #4

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYBODY!!! I hope you all are having a spooktacular night — don’t let the ghouls get to you tonight, and make sure to eat lots and lots of candy! Here are all but the last 3 Faketober designs. Very spook!

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Day 20 – Raven

Nevrinn [psychic/flying]
The Twin Raven Pokemon

Does Not Evolve

“It has the ability to split in two, creating a doppelganger made of Psychic energy. Its two halves will fly far and wide, and when they recombine, any knowledge is shared between them.”

Since I already had a Poe-inspired fakemon in #04 Plupoe & Poegalow, I chose to go in a less-obvious direction with the Raven fake. Thus, I took a card from mythology and based it on the Norse mythical raven gods Huginn and Muninn, which were Odin’s servants. They were said to fly around the world to learn its secrets and report them back to their master. I couldn’t resist making a slight Poe reference still though, which is why its name is a combination of “nevermore” + “raven”

In-game, it would have a special ability similar to Parental Bond. Maybe not as OP, though.

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Faketober Day 21 – Scarecrow

Deadsperado [fire/ghost]
The Quick Draw Pokemon

Does Not Evolve

“A restless spirit that is powered by its desire for revenge. Its uncanny aim allows it to hit a target from 300 meters. It hates all birds for some reason.”

The fact that this guy’s dex class is the “Quick Draw Pokemon” is kind of a joke to myself, because I was stumped for ideas and behind a couple of days so I just sort of scribbled whatever I could think of for the prompt, which happily turned out to be one of the more well-liked ‘mons for some reason. People like puns I guess! Representing guns in a simplistic, cartoonish design like this one is a challenge, but I’m happy with the design I settled on. It’s pretty weird and quirky, but not so crazy as to break suspension of disbelief. I think.

This design was partly inspired by Fiddlesticks from League of Legends (who I used to main in the jungle). An early draft had 2 legs instead of the single one, and that looked a lot more like Fiddle than the final result. Still, very spooky!

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Faketober Day 22 – Wendigo

Wendigrowl [ice/dark]
The Frost Hunter Pokemon

Evolves from ???

“A savage predator that lives in an icy tundra. It has no need to keep warm, and as such its body temperature is consistently 30 degrees below zero.”

I heard that the game Until Dawn features a Wendigo. Now that I’m done getting emotionally destroyed by Life Is Strange, I might check that game out so that I can sate my thirst for troublesome teens and interactive narrative games. …Uh, I’m getting off-track here.

This isn’t actually the first Wendigo-inspired fakemon I’ve designed; the other one was actually a Mega Evolution design for Elaynii’s amazing fakemon Shephantra (art by Elaynii). There’s more than a few similarities between the two designs, which is to be expected I suppose, but I still think there are ways I could push this design further. I like it, but I can do better… so, consider this a rough draft. It’ll have a pre evo as well and maybe a Mega too; think like Zoroark and Lucario.

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Faketober Day 23 – Headless Horseman

Stumperor [grass/fire]
The Pumpkin Fiend Pokemon

Stumpkin -(lv16)-> Hollostump -(lv36)-> Stumperor

“One night a year, during the month of October, a Stumperor will lead a massive stampede of Stumpkin and Hollostump throughout the region. This is known as ‘All Hollow’s Eve.’”

Finally! The grass starters — Stumpkin, Hollostump, and Stumperor — are complete! I knew I wanted to do some kind of crazy pumpkin-centaur design for the final, so I’m happy with how it turned out. The ghostly blue flames completed the look, too.

By the way, I carved a pumpkin today. I carved a Gengar face on it! Gengar is one of my favorite canon Ghost Pokemon, along with Pumpkaboo and Rotom.

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Faketober Day 24 – Revenant

Zombeon [ghost]
The Revenant Pokemon

Evolves from Eevee after fainting in Cursed Graveyard

“The result of an Eevee that lost its life due to a curse, it has been transformed into an emotionless husk. It is slavishly devoted to its trainer. Intentionally trying to evolve Eevee into Zombeon is considered a crime.”

When I was looking at the prompt list, I realized: wait a minute, I accidentally put Zombie on there twice. (‘Revenant’ refers to a member of the walking dead; in other words; a zombie.) So instead, I had this slot filled by the requisite Eeveelution. It’s a ghost-type, undead Eevee, as per the Tober region way. I regret not putting a crack in its skull showing an exposed brain; perhaps next time.

Stat-wise, it would be a tank, with high HP and Defenses but low offense and speed.

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Faketober Day 25 – Mutant

Xenogen [nuclear]
The Wastefield Pokemon

Evolves from ??? into ???

“A bizarre life form which thrives in irradiated fields of nuclear waste. It is a parasitic creature which won’t hesitate to latch on to any prey it finds and suck out its life force.”

Nuclear-types! I’ve long wanted to design more fakemon that are of the new type introduced in Pokemon Uranium Version, and this was a perfect excuse. I based its appearance on the Mutant enemies from Chrono Trigger, as well as the Xenomorph from Alien. I’m looking forward to designing the rest of its evolutionary line.

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Faketober Day 26 – Slime

Moldring [poison/fairy]
The Slime Mold Pokemon

Does Not (?) Evolve

“They gather in droves in wet, dark places. The more that congregate, the stronger their shared power becomes. They are known to stand in a circle and cast enchantments.”

Moldring is based on a slime mold, appearance-wise specifically the Wasp Nest slime mold. Fun fact! Slime molds used to be classified as a type of fungi, but they are actually in the kingdom Protista. It’s also based on the concept of fairy rings. For some cool and creepy macro pictures of slime molds, check out this gallery!

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Faketober Day 27 – Slenderman

S̴̴̛l͢e̢n͏͘͞d̸e͡e҉r̵̡ ̶̴́[͢?̡͞?̢?͠]̵
Ṭ̵̛̖̼͔̣͖̲h̨͇͓̘̞̺͕̪͙̟͢e̳̯̜͓͚̤̪͖̝͘ ̸̡̙̺̤̖͔̰̲͠Ų҉̖̺n̫̜͙̝̻͎̦k̷̼̭̣n҉̜̲͚̟̣͙o̭̤̻̼̯̳̮̕͘͜w̨͚͈̜͎̼̦̮̕͟n̸̞̯͚̳̝̺͠͝ ̩P̤̞͍̘͕̕͠o̭̼̦͈̱̰͠k͚͎̼̭͖̙͕͎͟é̶͓͚̙͇̹͈m̳̣͇̫o̴̻̱n̢̩̮̪͕̻̫͜͝ͅ

“͈̲̫̤͋̕I̴͕̬̮͔ͫͮ́ͦ̑ͦͤ̊ͩt̩̯̻̔̿̊̾ͩ̈́̚s̸̡͕̣̭̹͗͑ͩ͐̈́̏͐͊͂͞ͅ ̯͍̻͉̤̅̈́͆ͣͯͥͩ̊ͨp̘̯͍͍͕͈̅ͩͧͭ̓̔ͯ̉̽͜ŗ̫̤̦̊ͬͪͬ̍̚ḙ̸͔̙̠̳̻̩̃ͮ̓ͨ̆͐̽͘͘s̹̪̣̞̄͑̑̐̄̐e̩̯͔͊ͣ͆ͭ̀n̸̨͔̖̭̠ͯ̄͛͂̌ͭ̒̊͢ç̥͖͙̺̥̙̰͔̊̆͋̕ḙ͍̂̇ͫ͂̃̋ ̭̟̳̖̫̝̿ͤ͗̂̉͟c̷͔̦͇̾ͤ͗̉͑͂͊́́o̞͔͍̓̈́̊̇͗͐ͤͩ́̕r̘̩̫͖̼̺̬ͮ̊͂̑͊͆̽ͥr̠͎̞̂ͤ͊ͤu̧̢̞͓̯̝͔̖̔͊p̻̗̮̲̟̰͕ͨ̅̈́͝t͙͓̲ͮ͗͌̊͋ͬ͟s̩̦̙̻̙̪͓̻̎̉͊ͮ͂ ̢͚̞͈̱̆ͧ̈́͐̋̕͜v͆̇̔̽͏͙̪̮̺͡i̷̻͈͈̬͍͈̫̳͌ͨ͋͝d͎̳̞̰̖̩̱͛ͧ̉ë́ͤ̀̅̓̀͗̂͏͚o͉̠̹̬̬̜͉̖̥ͥ͆͆ ̤̈̀̅ͨ̚̚͝a̰͓̺͖ͫ̃n̶̢͚̝̮̪̦̳ͪ̊̎d̳̳͉͊ͦ͂ͨ̆̓̚͡ ̭̥̰̥̮͚̲̺̽ͫ͜c̷̖̜̬̭̳͑̒̈́ͦ̍á̧̳͚̹̺͐͌ͬ̽͋͆̔m͎͙̫̟̼̳̤̀̓ͣ͆͆̌̎́é̬̞̎̐́͝r̉̽̽ͪ̂͏͉͖̀ąͮͮ͗҉̶̜̬̣͚ ̶̜̬̝͓̭͒̇͌͝ͅf̢̯̺̤̩͕̻̽̓͗͟oͦ̿҉̢̼̭̭ō̢̝̲̬̫̱̹͒̅ͤ͐͊͒ͬ̀t͈͎͔̓̈́̀a̶̱̪̱̲͍̣̮̓̃g̸̣̜̝̞͖̻̦̈̅͑̈́ͯ͘e̞̜͙͔̣̫͍͂͆ͧͫ̊͑͂͜͡ͅ ͓͉͔̥̘̼͇ͬͦ͆̉̊ͣ͘̕a̧̲̳̙͊͊ŕ̛͖̲̆̍̀̚o̤̖͆u̯̻̦ͩ̌̅n͓̯ͮͪ̇̅̓̀ͧͬ͜͞d̷ͬͪͥ͑̒͗̏͏̶̭̱̝̗̭̥̼̱ ̅҉͏̭͇̱͎̞̯̟̀į̘̣̘̜͋͒͑ͫͩ͊̚͢t͈̻̟͒ͮ̀͢ͅͅ.̝͔̬̝̥́̃ͦ̿͊͂͟ͅ ̢̱̝̦̗̞̞͈͕̦̔̈ͫ̅̎͐̄ͪ̚Ľ̵̜͖̒̂ͯͣ͛̋ͣ͠o̰̣̦͛̾̌̇̉̾͆͢o̦̯͇̜ͧͥ̏ͬͪ̆̚k̷̥̪̜̲͍̝̂̒̈́̉̈̒̊ͪ̍i̧̹͍̯̭̦͓̳̬̙̚̚͢n̛̘̭͇̺͙̈ͭ͂́ͦ̏͠ͅg͊̂̐̍҉̨̞̻̳͖̪̻̞̻̬ ̨̣̙̅͋ͣ̒ͧ͂ą̗̬̯̠̥̝͔̏͑͢ṫ̹̝̎ͮ͑̕ ̵̝̩͆ͮ̿ͅi̒͛ͬ͒͛̆̒͏̠͓̱̥̪̤̪͘ͅt̵͖̪̝̞̬̭̝̐̒̅̅̃ͧ͆̕ ̵̜̘̲̳̭̃̎̋̅̿ͥ̏̊̅̀f̛̈̇͌͘͏͎̬̳͕̘o̫̪̗̺̯̰̎͋ͪͭ̅̉̇͠͡͡ŗ̪̗̭͈̇͋̑͐̏ͮ͗̋ ͕͚̟ͪ̀͑͊ͧ͘t͍̲̘̟͎̘̬̖̆͠o̷̥̱̺͓̦̰͑̊̚͝ͅõ̘̟̾͟ ̆̾̈́ͤ̆̄҉̛̖͓̳̰̝l̫̲͔̩̠͉͍̘͎ͦͩ͋̂̇͂͢͠ő̙̠̰̞͎͋́̎͛̈͘͢n̛̗̫͚̜̋̔ͤͩ̏g̩͔͓͈͉͐̓͑ͮ͌̚ ̨̠͈̫̲̖̋ͦ͐ͧ͢͠w̵̪͕̲̬͔̞̤̍͆͊̕̕i̟̦̔͛̒͗̍̍̊l̩̭͈͉̰̮͕̗ͯ͐̄͌̿̾̆͞l̤̫̼̫̽̆ͥͩͤ̽̎̚͞ ̢͔͕̻͔̟̙̍ͬ̊i̜͙̍̉ͤͤ͊̌͑ņ̤̯̭̱͖̻̦̝ͫͩͬ̐͠d̸͈̙̱̽̓̿̿ͅṵ̶̣̖̟̼͔̿̊̊c̛ͥ͛̋͗̋̒̅̒͏̗e̶̶͇͓͆͐̃͋͠ ̷̗͓̜̦̓͒̌ͯͣ̕ẗ̵͕̺̞̱̭́̽̿͟͡h̫͓̻̰͔̗͍ͭ͛ͮ͒̉̔e̴̖͈͔̜̋̂ͫ ̨̢̲̩͈̳̘̟̟͌̅̌o̼̙͖̗̖̙̣ͩ̒̑b̛̺̹͔̻̘̰̖̂̅̆̾̐͑ͅs̰̮͖͓̱͔̯ͦ͐͛͡ȅ̗̠̙͍̦͛͡ͅr̢̲̱̙͔̣͒ͧ̊̈́̌͘v̵̼̭̟̩̗̗͈̱͍̋̎̐ͧ̚ȩ̙̮̣͓̮̥̤̟̊̊͆͋̓̏ͣ̊r̛͕͉̝̯̺̼̣̀̆̾ͅ ̹͍̥̪̼͔̙̯̌ͥ̓͑̍̇̃̊̆͠ț̛̗̱ͭ̿̎ͥ͜o̲ͬ̍̍̍ͩ̅̿ ̴̶̫͇͖̣ͥ͢m̢͆҉͍̮͈a̡͎̠̥̰̱̳̾ͫ̊̿̄͜͡d̴̖̭͔̮̻̯́ͬ͊ͭ̂̔̇͒̉̀n͚̳̟̯̈́̆̊́͞ę̶̼͓̱̝͓̲̟̳̀s̥͇͌͑͞͡ṡ̸̡̯͕̣͍͈ͦͬ̏̓̑̈̃.̴̵̠͛ͦͥ͘ͅͅ ̧̍́ͦͫ͐͋̆͐ͧ͏̻̞͎̯Ṟ̻̳̘̞͚̯̙̖́̎̌̈̊ͦͨͩ͠ȅ̜̯̜̙̥͒ͬc̷̵͐͗ͤͬͦ҉̳̞̦̤̗̲͈̯̪ŏ̶̵̻̰͕̯̘̻͈̊̏̄͟ͅŕ̗̞̤̲͐͒́̒̀ͯḑ̡̖ͦͣe̳̪̦͇͙̱̝̗̔͑͗̓͒d̷̙̈́ͨ̑͑͐̃̓̚ ̗̪͎͓͔̉͢ͅsͧͧͬ҉̧͈̖ỉ̩̦͖̣̳̱͎͈̃ͣ͞͝ḡ̦̤̃̎̔́̚̕h̶̳͇̩͖̭͙̺̣͕́͛̉ͮ̉͝ţ̠͔̠̺͍̝͒̐͌͠͞i̠̻̠̦̣͌͑n̢̰̻̤͙͔̖̲̫͆̋̓̋ͪ́g̟͖͚̖̘̪ͤ͘͠͞s̶̨ͥ̐͏̥̱̰̺̱ ̸̲̞̪̘͓̑̐͘o̠͓̣͔̯ͪ͛͒ͤ̑ͬ̌͞f̫̼̦͓̜͆̾ͯ̐ ̪͔̙̬̇ͣ̈́ͤ̒͊͑̀i͍̪̰͆͑͋̅ͣͭ̽̃ͯ͞͝ṫ̢͓̮̭̞̬̠ͥ ̴̡͙̒̀a̤̹̜͉͐͌ͅļ̵͉̲͌̇́̃ͮͤͮ̎w̛͍ͪͨ̐̌ͤ͐̋́̕a̴͕̝̗̗̠͙͖͗͐͒͟y̠͔̠̖͕̣̪̲̏ͤͤ͗̂̀͘ṡ͍̰̤͎̼͔ͨ́͘ ͕̖̹͎̯͑c̡͖͉̯͆͠o̷̯̦̩̖̫̮͎̐̂̀i̛͈̹̼̹̱̖͋͛ͤ͟n̵̏͊̋̈́ͦ̑̿͡ͅĉ̦̤̼̪̱̮̳̉̋͋̇ͅỉ̵̬͕ͯͥͪ́͘ͅd̲̜͔̮̯̖ͨ̔͌͂̋͢͜ē̼̩̻̮͔͓͠ͅ ̶͇͖͆ͣͪͥw̎҉̴̤̣̹i̢̼̟̭̹͌͛ͯ̆ͧ̒́̚ţ̡̬̤̘̝̝̩̖̙͉͒͐h̷̸̡͕̫̣̜̯͗͒ͪ̈͌̇̿̀ ̵͖̙͂͑̾ď̴̗̯͐ͣ͝i̶̧̛̺͉̘͚͔̪̥̜̎ͫ͒͂̐͗ͭs̛͕̘͉͈͈̳ͭ̍̆̾̽̍̂ͤǎ̖͙̰̳̥͆̉̂p̨̼͍͈̜̹̬̈̅p̡̰̭̳͇ͫ̂̏ͣ̅͐̍̽̀͟ͅe̡͗͏̩͙͍̝͓̠̝a̼͕̫͑̈́̈́̉̉̚ṙ̼͎ͭͩ̽a͍̥̪͎̪͌͂͒͘͠n̹̼̟̹̖̬͕̞͔̿ͫ̚͝ĉ̮̝̮͐̓ͥ͒̔̀͒̈e̩͛͑̾͟͡s͚̭͓̹̤̜̞̝̋͆̀͜ ̜͔͈̜̰͓͕͓͎̿͗ͥͥ̽͟͟o̶̢̰̝͖̭̬̊ͤͮ̅ͭ̒͗f̶̨̫̖̥͚̟ͭ̂ ̶̨̻̠̜̦̼̠̳͔ͨ́̚c̡͖̫̱̎̎ͥ̇h̨̫̰̮̤̥̓̊͒̈͆ͪͦ̏i̓͗̅ͧ͑̎͆͊͝͏͎͔̜̮̲̦͚l̸̰̖̱̫̻̹̣̮ͨ͗ͣ̽̆͡d̳̩͛͂ͯͦͦ͊̋ͅr̸̨̪̫̪̬̦̺ͨ͊̍͌̇ͦ̿ȅ̷̵͔͇̩̱͚̦̼ͯ̏͌͑ͪͣ̊̚͡ņ̸͎̣̝͍̻̦̞ͫ̎̄ͅ.̫̫̮̯̙͚͇̓ͣͣ̑͟͠ͅ”̧̺͙̪̦̱̗̭̟̆̓́̚

Z̛̈̑͒á̵̲ͤ̍̆l͘g̡͉̻͚̾͊͌̆̇o̝̱̘̼̾̾ͮ̂ ̦͎̩̦̫̦ͬ͟te͉͈̭̻̓̓ͩ̌ͬ̄̔x̧̝̻̠̪̤̺ͅṱ̘ͮͪ͝ ̲̟͚͈̺̒i͓̰̥͈̖̎̇͋s̛̙̒̈ͥͤ̄͌ͭ ̪͎̟̹͙͍w̷̬̰͚̱̻̠̆̂ͦ̓͑̀h̴ͧ͋̈̾̌̎a̼͔ͧͦ͂ͣ͛͢t̼̬͎͈̖̾͊̓̽ ̟ͪ̄́ͯ̇̄̍͡aḻ̫̠̠̅̇l̞̗̰̥ ̝͙̹ͅt͕̞̱̝̟͊ͤhͧ̈́̈ͩͦe̼͒ͣ͌̏̉̈́ ̞̤̓̈̒ͤ̐c̫̰͚̐ͪ͗̌͆͡o̗̙͈ͦ̃ǫ̥̹̜̯̹͕ͦ̈́͒̎ͭ̌l ̌ͫͭ̈́k̴̻͕̩̱̊̀̿̊i̽̾̓̑ͤ͟d̾s̭̮̣͙͇̩̍ ̳̝͎̺͉͓ͣ̍̓̇̾͝ar̔̓e̝̥̞̼ͦ ̥̬̳̼ͪ̉i̖͚̪̐̓ͪ͟ň̹̼̻̱̐ͮ͋ͦ̉͆̀t̶̞̣̥̓͐ͦͥ͋̉o̖͎̎͐ ̣̜̘̗͚̍̉̓ͪ͌̀͋͘ͅţͦ̽ḥ̰̦̱́̔͂e̦̮̫̻ͣ̔̍͋͒̈́̍ͅsͬͯ͏̥̳̣̼̻̲e̳̻̗̥ͩ ̳̪̭ͦͦ̂d͕̈̾̐ͣ̊͠á̡̮̥̖̥͊̓͌y͐̿s̓̍̓̒̍̚,̨̪̝̗͍̥ͨ̈ ̳̣̮r͈̯̳͓̪͓ȋ̺ͬͨgͨ̋̑̈́͊́̚͏͔̯̪͉͔h͙͕̝͙͋͛ͨt̙̬̻̤̗̜ͭ̌̓?͐͗͌̐̇ͨ̚

Professor Calabaza’s notes: “It’s been a tough time getting any info on this one. Not only is it incredibly rare and elusive, but it corrupts all video and audio recordings in its vicinity. I’ve had to resort to using a pen and paper rather than my usual tablet to record my findings. Firsthand accounts of the thing involve hearing unexplained noises, seeing static in their vision, and sudden bouts of unconsciousness. I’m not certain this is even a Pokemon… at any rate, capturing it would be nearly impossible because any Poke Ball would fail to work. As much as I hate to give up on any problem, I may have to admit that in this case, some mysteries aren’t meant to be solved.”

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Faketober Day 28 – Grave

Riperoni [ghost/rock]
The Gravestone Pokemon

Riperoni -> ??? -> Mausolurk

“A restless spirit that possesses a forgotten headstone. It stands still in graveyards during the day, but is known to float around during the night.”

Today on: Twitch couldn’t think of a better name so she named it a bad pun and everyone seemed to love it for some reason. Riperoni is the basic stage of #18 Mausolurk, with a stage in the middle that doesn’t have artwork yet. Its design is based on a grave of course, but its silhouette is also in the shape of a stereotypical sheet ghost.

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Okay! That’s just about it; all that’s left is the legendaries, which will be posted after Halloween because my work ethic is… not great. One of them is done at the time of writing; you can check my Twitter, which is where I post them first!

All that nonsense aside, I hope you have enjoyed seeing these spooky designs this October! I can’t believe how quickly these 31 days have gone by. Now, I gotta go get ready and put on my costume — I’m planning to eat lots of candy and have plenty of spooky fun tonight! I hope you do the same!

Spookily yours,

~ Oripoke

Faketober #3

Another week, another fresh, hot batch of Fakemon designs! As I’m typing up this description, I’ve got a butternut squash soup simmering on the stove… so I guess you could say I’m feeling the October spirit. But this isn’t a food blog! Let’s talk Pokemon!

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Day 13 – Vampire

Vilucard [dark/poison]
The Villainous Pokemon

Evolves from ??? @ Lv. 30+ during a New Moon

“It constantly plots dastardly schemes to spread chaos and fear. However, its plans are always foiled by HEROLUNE.”

The Vampire and Werewolf lines are meant to be rivals — were always intended as such, which is why their prompts are consecutive in the list. But I ran into some trouble with deciding what to base their designs on at first; vampire bats are kind of overdone, so I experimented with different kinds of bloodsucking animals at first, like mosquitoes and leeches, until I decided on… a bat-cat thing. I already HAD a bat and a cat. Oops. But when I was thinking of themes that I could combine, I realized I’d never done a villain/hero duo… and so I combined that with dog/cat and vampire/werewolf to make Vilucard and Herolune simultaneously. I also based it a little on that purple cat guy from DBZ.

Vilucard is one of my favorite faketober mons thus far, at least in terms of what I like to draw. I just like to draw furries, I guess? It has a preevolution that I haven’t drawn yet — for a name, I’m thinking “Minyan” even though I’m cringing at the pun as I write this. I think I’d have this guy on my team. Its signature move, “Drain Life” is a Dark-type attack that heals the user for half of the damage dealt.

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Day 14 – Werewolf

Herolune [ground/fighting] The Vigilant Pokemon

Evolves from ??? @ Lv.30+ During a full moon

“It rises with the moon to do battle with its sworn nemesis, VILUCARD. It has a strong sense of justice and will protect those who cannot defend themselves.”

I’m a cat person, but I know that they can be evil bastards sometimes, so a heroic dog seems like an obvious counterpart. Also, a werewolf would make for a cool super-powered alter ego, kind of like the Hulk. There’s no reason there can’t be a good and not-scary werewolf, right? Ground/Fighting counters Vilucard’s Dark/Poison so it seemed like a pretty good type combination; it’s also two types that have gone unused this far. From a certain angle, Herolune’s moon-shaped tail looks kind of like a superhero’s cape, which I’m gonna pretend was intentional. My canon Pokemon inspirations for this guy’s design were Lucario and Hawlucha.

He has a pre-evo also, probably a ground type puppy. A “mild-mannered alter ego,” if you will. I plan to draw it soon.

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Day 15 – Frankenstein

Junkenscrap [steel/electric]
The Scrap Metal Pokemon

Does Not Evolve

“It salvages discarded appendages from other Steel-types, which it attaches to its own body. It holds itself together with a strong magnetism.”

Yeah, I know that Frankenstein is the doctor, not the monster! I’ve read the book, I’ll have you know. Since Frankenstein’s monster is stitched together using parts from other bodies and given life via lightning, I thought a robotic creature that was made of parts of other robots would be a fun twist. I was kind of surprised when I looked into Steel-type Pokemon and I found out that only a few of them were properly robotic. Most Steel-types are actually animals whose bodies are coated in metal; they are very much living creatures. The Magnemite and Klink lines are really the closest it gets; there’s no true “robot” pokemon (yet). So I had to make do with what I could find, and I included parts from some of my own fakemon, too.

These are all the Pokemon whose parts were borrowed for Junkenscrap’s design: Steelix (jaw); Magnemite (magnet neck); Bronzong (body); Klink (shoulders); Metagross (right arm); and my own fakemon Tracton (which you might recognize from Uranium version) which provided the left arm and tire treads.

If you could find this guy in a game, I imagine it would come in several different varieties using different body parts, but I’m not gonna spend time drawing those so you can use your imagination.

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Day 16 – Spider

Scubell [bug/water]
The Deep Diver Pokemon

Evolves from ???

“It stores pressurized air in its abdomen that enables it to breathe underwater for hours at a time. When threatened, it propels itself away with a forceful blast of bubbles.”

Based on a Diving Bell Spider, another seriously cool animal that really should be a Pokemon already, and a diver suit. A friend of mine drew a comparison to Treasure Knight from Shovel Knight; I was thinking more of a Big Daddy from Bioshock, but that works too I guess.

When I was working on this design, I researched lots of other cool kinds of spiders that I could use. There are currently just two spider Pokemon — Ariados and Galvantula — which leaves a whole host of untapped opportunities. Some of the other options I considered were a Daddy Longlegs and a Net-Casting spider, the latter of which is also an incredibly cool creature which could EASILY become a Pokemon, so somebody snap that up quick! Spiders are awesome, I’ve always liked them ever since I read Charlotte’s Web as a kid.

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Day 17 – Doll

->

Plusheem [fairy/normal] -> Dreamare [fairy/dark]
The Toy Pokemon

“Its soft, huggable look makes it popular among small children. Its body contains a squeaker that makes noise when it’s squeezed. When it doesn’t get attention, it squeaks mournfully.”

“Wait a minute,” you say, “I’ve seen that one before!” Yeah, Plusheem is a pre-evolution for #08 Dreamare. It’s a stuffed toy that’s alive, but before it turns evil. I wanted it to look like something straight out of Dr. Seuss, or Monsters Inc. I guess. I suppose the whole “haunted-doll-turns-evil” thing has been done before with Banette, but this is different, because it’s not a ghost, right? RIGHT??? Ah, hell. It’s cute anyway.

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Day 18 – Haunted House

Mausolurk [ghost/rock]
The Crypt Pokemon

Evolves from ???

“As its powers grow, its home crumbles around it until it disintegrates entirely. When this happens, it searches for a new haunt – forcing out its previous inhabitants if necessary.”

This design took me a really long time, and I’m still not completely happy with it. I even spent a long time doodling haunted houses in my sketchbook, trying to understand the architecture before settling on this design. Mainly I’m concerned with how the face looks way too much like Spiritomb… and also for practical reasons, it would be impossible for this thing to move around! I do like the idea of a hermit crab-esque ghost Pokemon, though…

I do take some refuge in the fact that this is the final stage of a 3-stage line. Its preevolutions have designs which I like a lot more but I’m not showing them yet. (You can probably guess which prompt they’ll be for.)

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Day 19 – Candy

Candelite [fairy]
The Sweet Pokemon

Does Not Evolve

“It carries an endless supply of sugary treats in the basket on its tail. Eating them can give you a temporary boost, but consuming too much can have adverse effects on one’s health and mental state.”

Awww, it’s so cute! Taking a break from the creepy designs, here’s one that’s inspired by my other favorite thing about October: eating enough sugary treats to enter into a food coma. Fittingly, Candelite’s signature ability is Sugar Rush, which acts like Speed Boost only it affects all Pokemon on Candelite’s side of the field. It also learns lots of different moves that give stat boosts to its allies. If Pokemon were more like League of Legends, its roll would be Support.

Also yeah its wings are candy wrappers. Where does the endless supply of candy come from? I don’t know! Fairy magic maybe.

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That’s all for today; there will be 2 more entries after this, one with #20-27 and another with #28-31, the three legendaries. We’re closer than ever to Halloween! Scary stuff!

Keep it spooky everybody!

~ Oripoke