Forgotten Dex – Among curiosities and secrets of the Pokémon world #5

Millenari, we are pleased to introduce you to our new column: Forgotten Dex – Among Curiosities and Secrets of the Pokémon world, where we will share many curiosities about the universe of pocket monsters. This product is the result of a collaboration with our colleagues at Pokéos, so, before we start, we invite you to visit their official website, a real goldmine for all fans.

Thanks to Pokéos and @FedeFadePSK, the initiative Forgotten Dex aims at bringing back into vogue the official (but forgotten) forms of many Pokémon using models similar to those of Pokémon HOME. Forgetti, a nice Rotom Pokédex (designed by @shellyeah_art) who loves to collect data on the curiosities of the Pokémon world, will be accompanying you through the Forgotten Dex.

In this fifth episode of Forgotten Dex, Forgetti is ready to show us five new curiosities about the world of our favorite creatures: let us be guided by his initiative and his wisdom! Are you ready to discover some animated series exclusive creatures?

Mongoose

Although Pokémon are inspired in their features and behavior by animals, we have long wondered whether animals as we know them also exist in their world. Some clues indicate that this could be the case but no official confirmation has ever arrived. Yet, sometimes the anime took some liberties by showing real food such as burgers, steaks or fish.

Even in some anime’s sketches you can see a dog or a cat, as well as the very common chirping birds. Especially at the beginning of the animated series it was possible to glimpse some traces of these, the most obvious one being perhaps Mongoose present in episode 20 “The Ghost of Maiden’s Peak“. It’s all the work of a Gastly, who in order to scare Jessie’s Ekans created the illusion of a mongoose, an animal famous for hunting snakes.

In fact, when Pokémon were not yet that many, all that could be done was to resort to real animals to make up for the shortcomings. In a few years the mongoose served as inspiration for Zangoose, whose natural enemy is none other than Seviper.

Lots of Bulbasaur, lots of variations

The beauty of the anime, besides its small additions, are the small drawing mistakes or small variations that can be found here and there. In fact, there are many Pokémon that have received this treatment from time to time. Let’s talk about Bulbasaur and some of its “alternative versions”. We have Bulbasaur’s clone, Bulbasaurtwo, that we meet in the first film starring Mew and Mewtwo. This little one was the product of Dr. Fuji‘s experiments, alongside a Charmander and a Squirtle and has the typical spots of the other cloned monsters in the film.

A particular Bulbasaur is the one that belonged to May, Ash’s companion during the adventures set in Hoenn. In addition to the typical spots, this little one also has two heart-shaped ones that join together on his forehead. As May’s long-time companion, he helped her greatly in Pokémon Contests, until evolving into Ivysaur first and then into Venusaur. In the movie “Pokémon – I choose you!” we can see the three Kanto starter Pokémon and their evolutions on a calendar, where they all have a strange and unusual orange color, including our beloved Bulbasaur.

In the episode 28 (“Pokémon fashion flash“), we were lucky enough to glimpse another little guy with a green bulb with a particular punk hairstyle, shared with his Trainer, almost like an easter egg which, if noticed, gives full-bodied laughter. The green bulb of the same monster is not so green in an episode set in Kalos, where due to a design mistake, a side of the bulb has the same color as the body. And how can we forget about the gigantic Bulbasaur that belonged to Nurse Joy from Mandarin Island South?

Baby Celesteela

Let’s go back to the small original details that the anime has added over the years. During the adventures in Alola we see a baby Celesteela. In the episode “Rise and Shine, Spaceship!” Sophocles says he met her while walking on Bamboo Hill, with her appearance resembling the oriental plant.

This story and the very inspiration of the Ultra Beast are reminiscent of Taketori monogatari (Tale of a Bamboo Cutter), a Japanese tale, in which a bamboo cutter finds a little girl the size of a thumb inside a cane and takes her as his daughter. At the end of the story, the girl reveals that she is an inhabitant of the moon and decides to return to her homeland, like Celesteela in Sophocles’ story.

Ultra Magnemite

And let’s talk again about the original material introduced by the anime, that aside some real animals it also introduced, from time to time, some interesting concepts that were never developed in the games of the main series. Many times the anime has taken on the task of introducing some upcoming Pokémon from the new generations, but in the case of the episode “It’s all in the name” set in Galar it even came up with a creature.

During the episode, a satellite is hit by a solar magnetic storm and begins to emit electromagnetic signals towards Earth. The Magnemites, famous for evolving into their final form via electromagnetic fields, begin to assemble. It is explained that the mysterious signal could activate a part of Magnemite’s body that is used for evolution and that this is therefore leading the Pokémon to assemble to form a large sphere.

Something more imposing and stronger than a simple Magneton. This event could suggest that different types of electromagnetic waves could trigger different evolutions of this mysterious little monster, but unfortunately the games of the main series have never made anything official, so, for the moment, we will be left empty-handed with some big questions.

Pik-Ash

We have seen plenty of humans transformed into Pokémon in the games, on the contrary there have been very few in the anime. However, there is a case, during episode 241 entitled “Hocus Pokémon“, in which a little witch says she knows how to let humans enter the minds of the little monsters. So, after once again defeating Team Rocket’s plans and creating the potion to make this happen, Ash volunteers to try it first.

And the witch’s promises are fulfilled and if our main character manages to understand Pikachu it’s because… he’s transformed into a Pikachu! The effects of the potion, explains the witch, are only temporary and therefore do not cause real harm, so Ash takes advantage of the opportunity to have fun in the body of a Pikachu. A very cute version of the Mouse Pokémon (or Ash himself) with the hat and disheveled hair of the animated series’ main character that has never been seen again.

Well done, Forgetti! Now go and discover new curiosities for our fans. We are all waiting for the new episode of Forgotten Dex to discover new forgotten secrets of the Pokémon world!