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#150 Mewtwo / #151 Mew

The main thing we felt was necessary to update these designs was to give them more colours, and more details in Mewtwo's case. When comparing to modern Legendary and Mythical Pokémon, Mewtwo and Mew are not bad, just incredibly plain.

We made one addition to the Mew design that felt very fitting to its concept: a caul. A caul or en-caul birth is when a baby is born with a piece of the amnionic sac over its head, or sometimes still completely inside it. This very rare occurrence is associated with good luck and even with supernatural powers in many cultures.

Hence, the caul emphasizes Mew's theme of birth and the Psychic type's supernatural side. It also looks like a space helmet, so it also plays into the Psychic type's space side and the panspermia theory of the origin of life (both on Earth and in the Pokémon world!).

Mew's twisting tails represent the DNA double helix and the mark on its forehead represents a chromosome.

For Mewtwo, we took some inspiration from Mega Mewtwo Y and Deoxys. The tube-like second spine has been extended to connect the top of the head, through the chest and the belly, all the way to the double tails. It was also made to look more skinny and pallid to emphasize that it is a lab-grown experiment. The unspooled helix of the tails is meant to represent gene editing.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #creature design #mewtwo #mew

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#144 Articuno / #145 Zapdos / #146 Moltres

Since the Legendary birds of Kanto are…legendary, we decided to take inspiration from multiple birds. They are also migratory, so we tried to incorporate elements of migratory birds into their designs.

To make their designs more cohesive as a set, we gave them some consistent designs: they share some colours, they all have something on their heads, and they all have something of their actual element on their body. More subtly, they also all carry seasonal inspirations—winter, summer and spring, respectively.

Specifically, Articuno takes inspiration from arctic terns, puffins and ptarmigans. Its tail references the Northern Lights.

Since Zapdos is inspired by Thunderbird, we focused on iconic North American birds for its design: the bald eagle, turkey vulture, black-billed magpie and pileated woodpecker.

As for Moltres, we leaned into the phoenix chicken—literally. We referenced the coloration of roosters of the phoenix chicken breed. We also added proper feathers to avoid the flaming rubber chicken look.

#the new 151 #pokémon #pokemon #creature design #articuno #zapdos #moltres

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#147 Dratini / #148 Dragonair / #149 Dragonite

Most of the time when people redesign Dragonite, they use Dratini and Dragonair as the starting point, and maybe even make a Dragonite with no limbs. We wanted to do the opposite: redesign them all with limbs.

We took inspiration from bats, added feathers, and used elements from all three to give the line cohesiveness. For example, in how Dragini's winglike ears return for Dragonite and are reflected in its actual wings, or how Dragonair's feathery ears match its fluffy collar, and that gets reflected in Dragonite's collar and tail.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #creature design #dratini #dragonair #dragonite

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#143 Snorlax

Most people know the original Snorlax was partly inspired by Game Freak programmer Kōji Nishino. Well, we don't know Nishino personally, so instead we decided to take inspiration from a different colleague: Bird Keeper Toby.

Toby is a fan of Snorlax, is the leader of Team Snooze, and is also known to sleep just about anywhere—just have a look at the Bird Sleeper Toby instagram!

So we took that into our redesign—plus a hint of Totoro. Snorlax's body shape is chest patterns are based on the onesies that Team Snooze is known to wear. The hair is inspired by Toby's and bed head. It even has a neck pillow to help it sleep anywhere!

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #creature design #snorlax

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#142 Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl takes inspiration from more modern interpretations of pterosaurs. A bit of Mega Aerodactyl pokes through as well.

For all three fossil families, we wanted to incorporate the rock they are revived from, in part to play into the notion that fossil Pokémon are Rock types because they were fossilized.

Since Aerodactyl's DNA is extracted from a bug trapped in Old Amber, our version has pieces of amber all over the body. A little bug even seems to be trapped on its chest plate!

#the new 151 #pokémon #pokemon #redesign #creature design #aerodactyl

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#140 Kabuto / #141 Kabutops

Kabuto and Kabutops are based on horseshoe crabs and samurai armour. We replaced Kabutops's scythe claws (a bit too much like Scyther, we thought) with crab-like claws that resemble kabutowari, a samurai blade with an extra little hook out the side.

For all three fossil families, we wanted to incorporate the rock they are revived from, in part to play into the notion that fossil Pokémon are Rock types because they were fossilized.

For Kabuto and Kabutops, we referenced pyrite, a golden mineral that grows in cubic crystals. Fossils sometimes have pyrite in them.

#the new 151 #pokémon #pokemon #redesign #creature design #kabuto #kabutops

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#138 Omanyte / #139 Omastar

Omanyte and Omastar are each based on a different species of ammonite, with different kinds of shells.

For all three fossil families, we wanted to incorporate the rock they are revived from, in part to play into the notion that fossil Pokémon are Rock types because they were fossilized.

In the case of Omanyte and Omastar, their shells contain ammolite, an opalescent gemstone that is formed from fossilized ammonite shells.

#the new 151 #pokémon #pokemon #redesign #creature design #omanyte #omastar

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#133 Eevee / #134 Vaporeon / #135 Jolteon / #136 Flareon

Eevee itself is already the perfect design of a generic mammal that could grow into anything, but it is a very Gen 1 design in its approach. Our job was simply to update its style, and we took heavy inspiration from Sprigatito for the body shape. The only thing we really added is the colour in its eyes, a hint of possibility.

We wanted to give the evolutions more variety in their body shapes and emphasize the element they represent as part of the design, but still keep as many through-lines in their designs as possible. They all have three colours, a face marking, something around the neck, and a hair-like element.

Vaporeon will probably be the most controversial since we removed the fishy traits of the original. We thought they were too different from the other evolutions; that they detracted from the mammal-ness of the set; and that they made Vaporeon look more like Fish or Aquatic type rather than elemental Water type.

Instead, we based Vaporeon on a river otter. The face marking and the ridge on its back look like waves, the pompadour references splashing water, and the collar is made of seafoam or bubbles.

Jolteon is based on a cheetah, with a lot of lightning elements mixed in. The fur is all pointy, as if it's been shocked, and the spiky hair looks like a mohawk. The blue around the neck adds a much-needed spot of colour contrast, and also looks like a choker, playing into the punk aesthetic of the hair and lightning-shaped tear tracks. The spots are made to look like speed arrows.

Finally, Flareon is based on a maned wolf. The darker extremities on its face and legs look like char marks. The hair on its tail, mane and head is fluffy and billows like a raging fire. Its ear is also shaped to look like a candle flame.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #creature design #eevee #vaporeon #jolteon #flareon

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#137 Porygon

The original Porygon was supposed to represent advanced technology, right? It was an artificial life form that could exist both digitally and physically, developed with the latest 3D modelling technology of the mid 90s.

Well, that's old news. This Porygon is truly advanced: a quantum life form in four physical dimensions, capable of existing and operating in both the digital and the physical realms simultaneously.

In terms of its design, it is inspired by quantum mechanics, electron orbital diagrams, and a hypercube or tesseract. Though we only see one eye from this side, its eyes are shaped like the + and - symbols to reference atomic charge.

Oh, and it's still a duck, of course. A 4D quantum flying duck.

#pokémon #pokemon #the new 151 #redesign #porygon

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#132 Ditto

We embraced the fan theory that Ditto is a failed Mew clone, and tried to emphasize that connection. Ditto's blobby shape is more intentional here, to specifically call back to Mew's ears, arms and tail. Ditto's cat face is also a slight reference to Mew. (The tricky part is that we have not designed our take on Mew yet…)

On top of that, this Ditto also takes inspiration from viruses, particularly in its tail. The coil references RNA, a single-helix genetic code used by everything from viruses to multicellular organisms, to tie in with Ditto (and Mew) containing the genetic code of all Pokémon. Ditto also looks vaguely like a bacteriophage virus.

#pokémon #pokemon #the new 151 #redesign #ditto

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a fan sculpt of abra..hope you like it

#submission

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#131 Lapras

Lapras is usually thought to be inspired by a plesiosaur, but plesiosaurs did not have shells like Lapras does. So we instead looked at another, somewhat related marine reptile called psephoderma, which had a leathery segmented shell on its back. We combined that with modern manatees, since Lapras's gentle nature fits better with the slow-moving lifestyle of sea cows.

Like so many Water/Ice types from Generation 1, Lapras doesn't show its Ice type very well. So we adjusted its color patterns to make it more icy (and with a hint of aurora) and added ridges of icy crystals along its back.

Since Lapras is famously the ferry Pokémon, we made the second part of the psephoderma shell saddle-shaped, and the last ice crystal on each side of its spine tall and handlebar-esque. A Pokémon that was made for riding!

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #lapras

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#129 Magikarp / #130 Gyarados

Original Magikarp and Gyarados are based on a Chinese legend where if a fish can jump up a waterfall and go through the dragon gate, they will become a dragon. We wanted to make that connection even clearer, so we gave Gyarados a more obvious Chinese dragon face, a smooth serpentine body rather than a segmented one, and a scaly pattern to reflect its fishy origins.

Magikarp lost its crown to make it more evidently weak, so that it doesn't carry that hint of majesty. That's also why we gave it an enormous eye reminiscent of Wishiwashi—to make it look even more pathetic. Its elongated, floppy body helps it looks more like a carp.

Some of the design of Gyarados's fins and back sail come from Mega Gyarados. We also made it red to improve the color cohesion between the two stages, even though it may cause it to look less Water-type. We hope the fishy scales will counteract that.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #magikarp #gyarados

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#128 Tauros

Tauros is a pretty simple Pokémon in concept, so we added some hints of matadors and bullfighting to make it more interesting, but making sure not to glorify the sport. The shapes of its colour patterns hint at matador outfits, and the red patch on its back references the bloody backs of the bulls.

Tauros's general body shape, and especially the shape of its horns, comes from aurochs, the extinct wild ancestor of modern cattle.

The Pokédex frequently mentions the aggressive nature of Tauros and that the Tauros with the most scars on its horns is the leader of its herd. So we replaced the three little bumps on the forehead with a larger protective plate, and gave both it and the horns markings that look like battle scars.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #tauros

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a fun fan art of 151 redesign Abra ...keep up the amazing work 

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#126 Magmar

Is Magmar a blue-footed booby? A karura? A dirty joke? Or maybe all three, or none of the above?

Well, we decided to make it more of an echidna, since it has spikes on its back, a beak, and prominent claws. We also really wanted to remove the head boobs, so we gave it nicer fiery eyebrows.

We replaced the flame on the tip of the tail, which was quite common in Gen 1, with a flow flame design throughout the tail and smoke at the tip. The big shoulder flames are reminiscent of Magmortar.

Magmar also has several design elements that parallel our take on Electabuzz, since they were designed as a pair. Both have echidna elements, a cloudy/smoky design on the tail, a black elemental marking on the chest, prominent eyebrows, and similar eyes and head shapes.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #magmar

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#125 Electabuzz

Electabuzz is a pretty cool design, but what Game Freak did with Elekid and Electivire is even better. So we took the aesthetic of the newer Pokémon and applied it to Electabuzz: The big forearms and AC power plug design elements come from that.

We designed Electabuzz and Magmar together as a set. Since we decided to make Magmar an echidna, and echidnas can use electroreceptors to find food, it made sense to also add echidna elements to Electabuzz. That's why it has a longer snout and spikes around its elbows and shoulders.

The blue stripes add some color to an otherwise very monotone design, and reference Pokédex entries about Electabuzz glowing blue when they hold a lot of power.

Electabuzz also has several other design elements that parallel our take on Magmar: a cloudy/smoky design on the tail, a black elemental marking on the chest, prominent eyebrows, and similar eyes and head shapes.

#the new 151 #pokemon #pokémon #redesign #electabuzz