Let's Talk About Pokemon - 151 Animals That NEED To Be Pokemon Yesterday (Part 9)

 

Photo by Mindy Tape

81. Corn Stalk

It definitely feels strange to have a very particular set of fruits and veggies selected to be Pokemon, but corn is nowhere in sight. Though I suppose to be fair, there's no region based on Indiana yet.

As a Pokemon: A Pokemon based on corn could be an unconventional pick for a Grass/Fire type! With how popcorn is a thing. Even if it's not worked into the design of the line itself, I could definitely see a Pokemon that fires ears of corn like missiles, with stalks that look like missile launchers.

82. Bitterling

A fish so unassuming that I feel like it's practically only known as something you can catch in Animal Crossing. These fish do have a cool behavior though! They lay their eggs inside of bivalves, which sounds like a bad case of parasitism, but it actually isn't! In fact, the baby bitterlings will eat the bivalve's parasites! How nice!

As a Pokemon: I feel like you could intemperate a bitterling as a clam/fish hybrid of sorts, or have a bitterling Pokemon that hides out inside a clam Pokemon's shell. Definitely feels like it'd have to be a Cramorant/Arrokuda situation where you'd need it to be represented by two lines.

Photo by Willem Kruger

83. Jacana

These birds have a funny and sometimes even freaky-looking way of caring for their children, that being what you see in the image above. They'll carry their kids around in their feathers and under their wings, but of course, since their legs are so dang long, they'll just dangle out of their parent's chests which gives the illusion of funky body horror.

As a Pokemon: Having a regular bird that eventually evolves into a taller bird with even just an extra pair of freaky arms would be cool just as-is, with its children acting as its parent's “arms”. The more “arms” it has, the better!

Photo by Dave Chapman

84: Lacewing

These insects have a rather unique way to lay their eggs. Rather than simply laying them and hoping no predators find them, they produce a silky stalk that each individual egg will be suspended on. This silk is so fine, even if the area is heavily patrolled by ants, they'll walk by completely unaware.

As a Pokemon: One that wears these egg-tipped stalks like jewelry or just fashion in general has a lot of potential to be really pretty. Or perhaps they could act as “nodes” for a Bug/Electric type!

Photo by Gilles San Martin

85. Mantidflies

Believe it or not, these menacing-looking things are more closely related to lacewings than mantises. There seems to be no active mimicry at play here either; just two animals that happened to develop similar frontal appendages. Unlike Mantises, which are ambush-hunters, mantidflies will actively seek out prey and attack with their frontal legs, since they're better fliers than mantises are. Not by much, but still better.

As a Pokemon: Wasp Mantidflies are also a thing, since mimicking wasps and bees tend to get predators to leave you alone. Just a simple badass cross between a mantidfly and a wasp would be killer.

Photo by Luke Shelley

86. Satin Bowerbird

Yes, the one from the “Lemme smash” meme. The males of this species build elaborate displays out of twigs and litter it found laying around. They even seem particularly fond of the color blue. All this to attract and mate with a female.

As a Pokemon: A Bowerbird Pokemon that fancies itself up with sticks and bits of blue trash would be an amusing take on the “pretty” and “elegant” type designs where the Pokemon in question gets its beauty from dumpster-diving.

CONTENT WARNING: Weird, veiny, proboscis thing

87. Ribbonworm

Gifs of this worm have gotten passed around quite a bit. That thing it ejects out of its mouth is actually its proboscis, which it uses to either capture prey and scare away predators. This worm is aquatic, which means this mechanism behaves probably not as intended above water, where its slimy proboscis will actually break off when it tries to retract it. This is fine though, because the ribbonworm can grow it back.

As a Pokemon: A ribbonworm Pokemon that casts a net out of its mouth would be rad! You could perhaps even give a regional form to Pyukumuku, where you give it some ribbonworm-like traits.

88. Stingray

We have a manta ray, but somehow all this time, a stingray has evaded us. Stingrays are differentiated in an overall more pancake-like shape, but also have a barbed stinger on their tails.

As a Pokemon: With Stingrays being a broad term for fish, so you could just about do anything with them. One idea I find myself fond of is combining one with a few more bat-like aspects, which works out since they'd work as Water/Poison types anyways! And for a second idea, you could totally make one that's shaped like a guitar for a rad Electric/Poison type, if you don't mind a little thematic overlap with Toxtricity.

89. Honey Pot Ant

Most species of ant hatch into a caste system, where each type of ant is born into a specific role for the colony. A type of ant called a “replete” is basically a living foodstore, since ants feed each other via regurgitation. Honey Pot Ants have easily the most recognizable repletes though, since their gasters can hold HUGE amounts of food inside of it.

As a Pokemon: An ant Pokemon with a witch-like and/or alchemical theme would be cool, with the final evolution of them basically being a huge, living cauldron with a “potion” brewing inside their gaster!

Photo by Mbari

90. Sea Pig

These sea cucumbers live in deep ocean floors, feeding by filtering out organic materials from all the mud it consumes.

As a Pokemon: With its name, appearance, and ties to mud, it'd be about impossible to not have this thing be a hybrid with a pig. I think a neat spin you could put on it would be to have it be pig-like in appearance, but not actually be half-pig. Such as having a set of pig snouts on its face.

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