Yesterday, I had the idea to draw a Bulbasaur, but with a lightbulb on its back rather than the usual plant bulb.
Later that night I started coming up with how the rest of its evolution line would work, deciding that it would develop from a bare bulb to a full lamp and then finally to a ceiling light with built-in fan.
Today, I finally got them finished!
I imagine these as being an Electric-type version of the Bulbasaur family, with the fully-evolved form becoming Electric/Flying (partly because "Flying" is a bit of a misnomer and it's really more the air/wind elemental type... though it can fly, after a couple seconds to get its fan blades spinning fast enough to lift off like a froggicopter.)
Beyond the "keep reading," I ramble on for multiple paragraphs about what names I'd give these to differentiate them from the standard plant-frog version... because while Bulbasaur can still work thanks to the dual meaning of "bulb," Ivysaur and Venusaur not so much.
I'm thinking the unevolved form would still just be called Bulbasaur, the difference being what kind of "bulb" it has. The Japanese name is vague enough at this stage that it could still work, too -- "Fushigidane" is usually translated to "mysterious seed" (fushigi + tane) but it's also a play on words since it sounds like "fushigi da ne?"... which would translate to something along the lines of "it's mysterious, isn't it?" I'd say it'd be pretty damn mysterious if frogs started being born with fully functional lightbulbs growing out of their backs, so... it works! 😂
And then when it evolves it becomes Lampadaur -- from "lamp" obviously, but also because I wanted to ditch that pesky "-saur" ending that has misled so many Pokémon fans... who apparently have never seen either a dinosaur or a frog, and perhaps don't know what a dinosaur actually is. Look up Pac-Man frogs, horned frogs, etc. and you'll see something that's a whole hell of a lot closer to these guys than any dinosaur.
Swapping the S for a D also happens to make it sound like "lampad," a type of nymph in Greek mythology that lived in the underworld and was said to have candles or lamps with mind-influencing effects on those that see them... which works out pretty well, because I already had imagined these guys learning moves like Signal Beam (which causes confusion) and Mirror Shot (lowers accuracy), both light based moves with debilitating side-effects.
Funnily enough, Ivysaur's Japanese name only needs to have one katakana changed to have an appropriate name -- going from Fushigisou to Fushigitou alters the meaning from "mysterious grass/herb/plant" to "mysterious lamp."
And finally... the fully-evolved form. Ventilador!
...which is literally just "fan" in Spanish. 😅 But hey, it's a variation on a first-generation Pokémon, and back in the day they weren't quite so insistent that every species name be a pun or multiple words stuck together (I guess they didn't know just yet how big of a thing Pokémon would end up being, so having unique trademarkable names was less of a concern.) There were plenty of species that just had a regular ol' word as their species name (for example: Gloom, Persian, Golem, Electrode, Mew), or regular ol' word but spelled differently (Onix, Drowzee, Krabby, Chansey, Koffing, Weezing, Muk, Gastly) and/or with slight additions (Kakuna, Meowth, Graveler, Tangela, Grimer, Haunter) or rearranged (Ekans, Arbok, Omanyte.)
It also keeps a similar overall sound as Venusaur (both start with a V, next consonant sound is an N, and both end with an "-or" type sound), while ditching that troublesome "-saur" bit.
As for the Japanese name... Fushigibana just means "mysterious flower," so that doesn't really work anymore (...unless I redesigned it to have those multiple branching flower-shaped glass bits like some fancy old ceiling fans had rather than just a simple dome, I guess.) A quick search turned up Senpuuki as the Japanese word for an electric fan, and... y'know what, since I've already got its English name just being "fan" in another language, making its Japanese name just be "fan" in Japanese kinda works.
Gotta Swap 'Em All!
On the internet, it is basically a rite of passage to do at least one Pokémon themed art challenge if you have ever once in your life picked up a pencil.
And who am I to back down of this classic challenge? Rolling the dice on the hundreds of possible Pokémon and type combinations, I spend this video trying to see what it would be like if certain critters had other types than normal... what kind of madness awaits us?
Just gotta watch to find out!
Some Pokemon type-swaps. They’re for a fangame I’m working on, it’s really fun! They’re Bug-Type Bulbasaur, Rock-Type Charmander, and Fairy-Type Squirtle. You’ll have your choice of the 15 starters from the first five generations, each changed to be mono-types as something other then fire, water, or grass. If anyone has any questions about this project, I’d love to answer them!
Some re-designs of Gardevoir with different typing, the psychic/flying type Gardesoar and the psychic/dark type Gardenoir. I have a couple more designs including a psychic/ghost type gardevoid but I’ve yet to be please with the deign fully yet. hope you like!
