The EVILEST mustache

347: Anorith

Anorith kind of leaves little to the imagination. If you know the Anomalocaris, you know Anorith, who follows the anatomy of its animal origin shockingly well, with very little bells, whistles, or even stylization. At least, beyond the cute, beady eyes.

But don't let Anorith fool you! If you know the Anomalocaris, you'll also probably know that it was thought to be the apex predator of the Cambrian period, being the largest of all the creatures at a whopping 3 feet in length. It's also thought to be the common ancestor of all modern arthropods, thus Anorith gets Rock/Bug type. Anorith itself is simply adorable, but it's otherwise not got much to talk about with how straightforward it is in design.

Arseetheo

348: Armaldo

Armaldo ends up being the Anomalocaris reimagined like a dangerous land-dwelling predator, supposedly fitting the Poke-niche of the T-Rex at the time. And everything on it is fun enough, yes, including the funky eyes people seem to hate on this thing. Its whole silhouette is cool, and its appearance is just pretty badass. Very competent design!

We just feel like it loses out on some of the Anomalocaris' weirdness when they take its claw-like face-appendages, essentially proto-mandibles, and just turn them into arms. This design would've been WAY more fun if it had those appendages sticking out of its face. What's scarier than a giant arthropod with claws that just hold you in place while it eats you?! That's exactly why we all should be thankful mantids aren't big enough to hunt people!

Though, even with this in mind, Armaldo is very lovable. Armaldo's general vibe very much has a classic kaiju movie feel to it, with it looking like a mix of a reptile and some other creature and having a very upright posture as if it was designed to be made into a rubber suit a man can wear. As is, Armaldo is in the camp of "very good design, but one simple change could've made it even better."

Though, seeing these two fossilmon go is a little sad, as they're gonna be the last we see of Cambrian creatures. Most fossilmon after this point are actually going to take the more obvious route when it comes to the concept of "reviving fossils" and start bringing in actual dinosaurs. Which is fine, but it's almost all they do these days! As such we really hope Gen 9 introduces a new pair of Cambrian fellas. The opabinia, hallucigenia, and marrella are ALL long-dead weirdos that are BEGGING to be made into Pokemon.