948: Toedscool
948: ToedscoolAnd right here, we're introduced to one of the single coolest new concepts brought up by this game in particular. In Gen 7, they brought in Regional forms, which was a cool way to introduce new "species" within the same "genus" of Pokemon. And of course, because they're so taxonomically similar, they're counted as the same in the Pokedex. A common raccoon and Cozumel raccoon are closely-related enough to still be the traditional image of a "raccoon."
Gen 9 here introduces the concept of convergent species of Pokemon. That is to say, two wildly differing animals that evolved similar physiology by coincidence, or simply to accomplish the same environmental niche. A hummingbird and a hummingbird hawk moth may look similar, but the only thing they taxonomically have in common is being under the Animal kingdom!
Naturally, Pokemon-ifying this concept takes on a fun form; Pokemon that appear similar to other Pokemon, but otherwise share nothing in common. Toedscool here may LOOK like Tentacool, but it's got nothing to do with it! While Tentacool is a Water/Poison jellyfish creature with two tentacles and big jewels on its head, Toedscool is a Grass/Ground mushroom creature with two noodly legs and classic toadstool spots on its noggin. They just HAPPEN to look similar by coincidence! Toedscool even has a completely different cry!
We already liked Tentacool a lot, but Toedscool has somehow managed to make it even better. First of all, it's based on a woodear fungus, a weird flappy fungus that grows on the side of trees. Perfect for Toedscool's jellyfish-like form! It even spawns exclusively next to trees to emphasize this basis!
Additionally, its main feature is that Toedscool's Tentacool-like noodly legs are what it runs on. And we mean runs, because it's a deceptively fast little dude. And it has got to be the single silliest running animation in the game. Like no, if you've somehow not seen it yet, you HAVE to see this Pokemon in motion to fully understand the appeal.
Toedscool has to be one of the most unhinged, bizarre creature concepts in all of Pokemon. The specific combination of:
-Fungus creature
-Long, noodly legs
-Runs fast
-Happens to look like Tentacool
is just something to behold with this design. Beautiful.
949: Toedscruel
949: ToedscruelAnd naturally, the Tentacool-like creature evolves into a Tentacruel-like creature as well. Tentacruel was actually one of our favorites from Gen 1, but it's never quite ascended high enough to really count as one of our favorites of all time. And apparently turning Toedscruel into a weird fungus creature is the perfect way to remedy this.
It foregoes the running aspect but still nonetheless stands on a bunch of stalks. It also gets big, bulbous jelly-like spots on its completely black cap, looking a bit more like the gemstones on Tentacruel's head, but also calling a bit of bleeding-tooth fungus to mind.
It also trades in the oversized beak for a nozzle-like proboscis, which is such a fun addition. It's clearly to make it a bit more octopus-like so that it has a change that looks a bit softer and more befitting a fungus creature, but keeps its face fairly similar to Tentacruel. But it's nonetheless such a neat thing to give an odd fungus dude. The dex doesn't mention it, but we like to imagine it fires spores out of that thing to debilitate prey.
They also form forest-wide colonies, which is accurate to actual mushroom behavior! Ground-based fungus will have large-spanning root networks that each fungus will use to actually exchange information with each other. Yeah, fungi can do that. Has anyone reading this ever felt the gravity of how bizarre and alien fungi are? They're just. Their own weird little thing. They communicate with each other in ways that can actually be converted to audio wavelengths to a point where you can actually hear a mushroom go wild when it senses another is nearby suddenly. They're not animals, they're not plants, they not even plant-esque organisms or some weird in-between. They just are what they are.
Anyway, Toedscruel is cool in how this more octopus-like form of theirs does quite resemble the common Japanese interpretation for a Martian; a weird little grey or green octopus-shaped fella. Toedscruel itself doesn't have any ties to space or the like, but that Pokedex splash page especially really looks like it's from some doctored "alien spotted" photo "evidence", doesn't it?
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And sorry for another tangent, just going into it because woodears are an edible fungus that some people enjoy eating, to the point where the Pokedex points out Toedscruel's flaps are a delicacy. There's a lot of food-themed Pokemon this gen, isn't there? First there was Lechonk, which is named after a particular type of pork dish. Then there's Fidough and Dachsbun, the Smoliv and Nacli families, now Toedscool and Toedscruel. And there's still at least 5 more Pokemon coming that are also food-themed. Somebody at Gamefreak must've been really hungry.
ANYWAY, Toedscruel is super rad and we love this weirdo. Easily one of our favorites out of this generation for the killer idea!
Personal Score: 10/10
I absolutely LOVE Toedscool and Toedscruel... And I don't even care about the jellyfish ones that much!
ReplyDeleteThe combination of how silly Toedscool is and how subtlety otherworldly Toedscruel is just really do it for me. What unsettled me the most about Toedscruel is the animation of it slithering up to a standing position when sent out of it's pokeball combined with its weird birdcall cry.