But nobody asks Whyhorn?

111: Rhyhorn

Rhyhorn's cool, if on the side of standard-looking. It gets its rocky point across with its surprisingly complex design, by Gen 1 standards. It manages to not look TOO messy, but I can't help but feel slightly taken aback by looking at it. Is that just me? There's a lot of seams going on, but the rocky feel of it along with it being monochromatic helps it not look like a mess.

I also critique its proportions, at least in relation to its Pokedex entries a bit. It's portrayed as something that's supposed to be able to charge relentlessly, but with those stubby little legs it has I can hardly imagine it running very fast at all. I get a more "immovable object" sort of vibe from Rhyhorn, which would've been an interesting take on a rhinoceros creature.

Personal Score: 6.5/10

I'm TELLIN' ya! It was THIIIIIS big!

112: Rhydon

Ironic that they call the ride-able Pokemon "Rhyhorn," but the Pokemon that's less ride-able with the big horn "Rhydon." Heh.

Rhydon here is supposedly the first Pokemon ever designed. And when you look at it, it just... makes so much sense? Rhydon feels like such a raw, unfiltered “Gen 1” design aesthetic. The purest spirit of the Pocket Monster. If you need Gen 1 summed up in one Pokemon, it's Rhydon here. The way it's all monochromatic, with just one or two accent colors. And of course, it's an animal that isn't normally lizard-like in any way turned to look like a kaiju or dinosaur. Gen 1 really likes those kaiju/dinosaur-like designs.

As a side note, I'd love it if there mere more Pokemon concept art shown. Speaking as someone that's taken a shot at making a generation of my own Fake-Pokemon, there's a lot you have to sacrifice and some ideas that get left on the cutting room floor either to make a design more readable or simply taking a different approach with a similar or separate theme entirely to what you were going with before. While we do have a good chunk of pre-release Pokemon now via all the leaks, "The Making of Pokemon" would easily be a cool documentary series going over each Generation's design philosophy and seeing it in action.

That said... I can understand why they don't show early concept designs of any Pokemon very often, cause it can definitely create the trouble of getting a lot of fans wishing you went with this beta design or that concept sketch instead of the final product, because I definitely feel that way about at least a handful of the beta designs we've gotten ahold of.

Anyway, tangent over. Rhydon's definitely a worthy contender for "Gen 1 Mascot," with it being so iconic looking and so cool looking. It's a wonder it didn't wind up being Pokemon's mascot or even secondary mascot, but I guess cute ol' Pikachu is definitely way more marketable.