Lupus in FabulaI'll start by mentioning that I was completely inspired to do Pokemon design reviews by Bogleech, whose Pokemon reviews I've enjoyed reading for a while now. So if the topic of Pokemon design reviews interests you at all, make sure to check his out as well.
My reviews will be a bit different, as I'll be reviewing designs in tandem with my Draw 'em All dex project, where I draw every Pokemon in my style and with my own personal touches, either that match my style better or that I think the Pokemon itself should've embodied more.
I'll start with my thoughts on the initial design, and then move onto my redesign and mentioning why I made the choices/changes that I made. All of that being said, I'll begin now, lol...
001-003
#001 BULBASAUR (FUSHIGIDANE)
Bulbasaur is a classic cutemon, maybe even the classic cutemon, so it's hard for me to dislike anything about its looks. It's just a nice, classic baby monster design. As a disclaimer, I tend to prefer grass starter designs overall, and Bulbasaur is no exception. I love pudgy creatures, fangs, reptilian animals, a cute smiling face, red eyes, etc. Simple and iconic. Great.
The concept of a reptilian creature + symbiote plant combo is universally cool, too, so this whole line earns points from me for having the very first Pokemon in the entire dex be something kind of freaky and weird (but still cute and marketable-plushie-shaped, as Pokemon often does). Pokemon tends to do this pretty often, but I still feel the need to praise it since I'd like to see it continue.
As a big fan of reptilian creatures, it gets points from me for that as well, though Pokemon tends to have no shortage of herps (especially in Kanto, where everything is a reptile). Though, having said this, my redesign choice may surprise you.
WRLDEX BULBASAUR
In my dex project, I turned the Bulbasaur line into dicynodonts! I've never been the biggest fan of frog/toad Bulbasaur, though the inspiration is there, and making it a lizard is redundant since Charmander is already a lizard, and I'd like if Bulbasaur had a more unique identity among the Kanto starters. So considering this, as well as Bulbasaur's curious non-reptilian ears and similarities with dicynodonts, I chose this route. I'm also a big paleontology fan, so you may see me evoking extinct animals pretty often with my redesigns.
(Diictodon life restoration, from Wikipedia)
A dicynodont is a beaked & two-tusked variety of herbivorous therapsid, which are a type of creature that lived during the Permian era, pre-dating all dinosaurs. Therapsida is a clade that includes modern-day mammals, so even though a dicynodont isn't a mammal itself, it's easiest to say it's closer to "mammal" in designation despite being superficially reptilian. This is something I found befitting of the Bulbasaur line, which is herptile-looking while still feeling just a bit off and even slightly "mammal-ish" with their weird little cat ears. It's a great match for a cute but somewhat phylogenetically freakish little Pokemon.
#002 IVYSAUR (FUSHIGISOU)
Middle evolutions will often have the issue of me not having much to add that I haven't already said for the base Pokemon. The thing about Ivysaur that I like most actively is that it has this kind of "girl who's really mean" look to it. Couldn't tell you why, but this is my association and I do enjoy it. lol
I do wish the flower was something other than a rosebud-looking thing. I would've liked something more like an arum flower, but it still does the job fine.
WRLDEX IVYSAUR
Not much to add, just Bulbasaur but a bit grown up. You'll notice I still drew a rosebud shape despite saying I wish it were something different, and that's because this was a post-redesign thought I had lol.
My Ivysaur has a more aggressive & territorial disposition than my Bulbasaur and Venusaur, so I made sure to note that in my dex blurb and in the body language.
(Monstera deliciosa leaf, from Wikipedia)
Since you can see the leaves unfurling now on my Ivysaur, I'll mention how I also simply refer to the symbiotic plant on Bulbasaur's back as a "parasitic Araceae," which is a family of flowering plants that includes the famous monstera. This is mostly just because of my desire to have this line sporting monstera-ish leaves (and the gmax form's titan arum flower), which ties into my thought that these would be Pokemon that are popular with hobbyist horticulturists. I also just like to draw this type of plant.
#003 VENUSAUR (FUSHIGIBANA)
As an adult, Venusaur takes first place as my favorite Kanto starter. I love big, tanky monsters, they have an inherently high "cool" value to me, and Venusaur is a big, weird, angry-looking brute with a big fat head (another physical trait I like in an animal) and plenty of Pokemon strangeness going on alongside. Plenty here for me to love, though I do wish the body color had at least one other tone, but this is just a me thing and not really an objective critique.
The leaves themselves always seemed a bit flat to me, and I wish they curved a bit, but otherwise I like everything about Venusaur, pretty much.
WRLDEX VENUSAUR
My Venusaur is still a big "brute," but I wanted it to have a more relaxed demeanor and look, since I see it as a popular captive Pokemon as well as filling a wild niche that's moreso akin to a watchful matriarch/patriarch to a clan of younger animals.
Since I made mention of them being popular for propagation of various leaf variations, I imagine that there are maybe as many types of Venusaur leaves as there are Araceae plants & variants of those themselves. The tree is just a random cartoon tree from my brain with no external inspiration, since it's secondary to the leaves for me. I think it looks kind of dumb but whatever lol
(Emperor Bulblax in-game model, from Pikmin 4)
I was playing Pikmin 4 when I drew this line, and with my Venusaur, my goal was to channel a "Pikmin boss monster" vibe. I think I did that better with mega Venusaur, but I hope you can still see the inspiration here, particularly with the droopy Emperor Bulblax-esque jowls which are my favorite part of my redesign (I think they're cute).
As another note, and this applies to the whole line, but I tried to emphasize the body thickness of this line to tie in with Venusaur's Thick Fat ability. This is a tanky group of monsters, so I'd like them all to look notably wide and sturdy.
#003 MEGA VENUSAUR
I'm a pretty big fan of Mega evolution (like most Pokemon fans), so I'll generally have good things to say about these. I wish that the body color was a bit less light and blended a bit better with the leaves (more greenish maybe?), but otherwise I think Mega Venusaur is pretty good. The tree and leaves are way more interesting than on the usual Venusaur, which is a step-up. The head flower is so stupid-looking as to become endearing to me, so that part loops around into being a bonus for the design, too. Pokemon designs are at their best when they keep the silliness or camp of Pokemon in-tact, imo.
WRLDEX MEGA VENUSAUR
My redesign is the clearer "Pikmin boss monster" Venusaur, since it goes through a demeanor flip & turns into a raging berserker. I always liked that mega evolution has a bit of a dark underbelly to it in canon Pokemon, so with my dex entries, I chose to expand upon it by specifying dangerous behavioral changes and legalistic concerns, but not to a point where it's too grimdark.
As with a few of my very early redesigns, I think this one looks a bit plain (mostly with the shading), but it is what it is at this point. If I were to draw it again, the leaves would have a bit more color detail to them, namely.
#003 GMAX VENUSAUR
Just to be perfectly up-front from jump, I'm not a fan of Dynamax or Gigantamax as game mechanics and generally not a big fan of their designs either, so even though I've been drawing these forms to keep my dex perfectly complete, I'm probably not going to have much to say about them (as is evident in some of my dex entries for these...)
The concept of Venusaur's flower growing so large that it appears to be hiding underneath in ambush is pretty cool, and something I kept in my redesign, but the flower itself seems kind of plain and artificial to me. The top part especially is pretty lacking in anything interesting.
WRLDEX GMAX VENUSAUR
I drew Venusaur laying down rather than standing, to emphasize the "hiding underneath" concept better, as well as the weight of the flower itself.
(Amorphophallus titanum, from Wikipedia)
I also added a pretty explicit titan arum (AKA a "corpse flower") to add a bit more to the flower itself since I found it lacking. I could've worked on this one a bit more, but as I said, I really don't care much for most Gmax designs so if it's serviceable then it works for me, lol
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