Ruining fun: This Pokemon “mindblown WOW!” chart
The bottom row was added on later, possibly by a second person, and was not in the first version of this image I saw.
Fire types & Zodiac
Pokemon is a Japanese game, and damn near everything in Asian culture references the Zodiac to some extent, so there is likely more than a coincidental overlap between Pokemon in general with Zodiac animals even if not directly intended. That said...
Charizard is infamously not Dragon-type. It only acquires this type through Mega Charizard X (the cool black-and-blue one.)
Typhlosion is a very fat porcupine, not a rat. This is made clear by the names of its previous evolutions, Cyndaquil / Hinoarashi and Quilava / Magmarashi. Yama-arashi is Japanese for a porcupine, and porcupines have quills.
Infernape is based on Sun Wukong / Son Goku, the infamous “Monkey King” of the Asian legend Journey to the West. To be fair, the three other major non-human characters of this story are also connected to Zodiac animals (a pig, an ox, and a dragon who turns into a horse), so one could argue that referencing this story is necessarily referencing the Zodiac (see first point.)
Delphox is not a dog - it is a fox. These two animals have very separate places in Asian mythology and symbolism and are rarely (perhaps never) mixed up. Delphox’s line is just another transformation of the kitsune, reimagining it with a semi-Western witch aesthetic.
The not-entirely-revealed-yet G8 fire starter is a rabbit, which would fit into the Zodiac (Hare).
The missing Zodiac animals so far not counting false positives are: Ox, Snake, Horse, Ram
Serperior matches Snake
Grass types & Ancient Animals
This is cheating; every animal on Earth has a prehistoric ancestor and like 80% have one that looks arguably similar to the modern edition. Grass-types that are not themselves plants tend to disproportionately resemble regular, terrestrial animals (especially herbivores because grass) more clearly than other types, so they will probably line up more with dinosaurs et al than non-Grass types.
Blastoise, Feraligatr, Swampert, and Infernape are also extremely prehistorically compatible.
Like Infernape, the G8 grass starter is a monkey - there are definitely prehistoric something-pithicus monkey critters to connect it to.
Water types & Weapons
... brass knuckles?? Wouldn’t every Fighting-type Pokemon and thus the 3 Fire/Fighting starters match this too, then??
Feraligatr is based on spikes, primarily its teeth, and is utterly unarmed. It doesn’t even punch, so brass knuckles is a baffling comparison.
Swampert is also unarmed, and relies on its brute strength - this is the one better connected to brass knuckles, but the memer chose fans because some of its body parts are fan-shaped.
Primarina is made out of softness and snuggles and I have to presume the spiked mace is bizarre humor.
Delphox uses a magic wand
Three Grass-types are also connected to armament:
Sceptile’s tail resembles a bladed mace
Chesnaught has the ability to form a shield from its hands
Decidueye is effectively a living arbalest
The G8 water starter does not have any armament in its only known form (first evolution). Neither did Greninja or Samurott, though, so time will tell if it picks something up down the road.
Anyway there’s a bunch of time wasted on that.
