I will never profess to being a good artist. I have years of experience with colouring outside of the lines like an idiot, fingerpainting like an idiot, I have explored, extensively, the inexplicably untapped artistic medium of "number 2 mechanical pencil on lined college ruled schoolpaper" (why artists have failed to see the merits in utilizing such a medium is truly beyond my comprehension).
I merely wish to offer my own ideas about pokemon designs--and in some cases, how those designs may be improved. Note that this is a purely subjective undertaking meant as an exercise purely for myself and that by continuing, you are consenting to my subjective beliefs. I truly, sincerely, apologize if I have an issue with one of your favorite pokemon. Nobody should feel bad about liking things that they like and your views are totally valid as well!
Redesign Number 1: Samurott
So gen 5 fucking sucks, right? Like not just in terms of writing. Not just in terms of battle speed. Not just in terms of overworld design. Not just in terms of the insane number of button presses it takes to JUST GET TO THE GOD-DAMNED START SCREEN, FUCKING ASS CRACKERS.
*ahem*
The pokemon also suck. Don't @me.
Let's start our redesign adventure with Samurott.
Samurott is particularly frustrating for me because it is the first water starter that I just did not like at all. This is bothersome because I always had chosen water as my starter in every game up until Black Version and I had always felt that, "yeah, I think I made the best choice again". Like don't get me wrong, I love Venusaur and Sceptile and...Blaziken (I guess?), but gen 5 was the first time that I looked at the water pokemon and decided that it was the lamest of the three. And Gen 5 had Emboar, so that's saying something.
The problem I am having right now is that there REALLY isn't anything that I can point to that is specifically wrong about this design. Like...with Emboar, I can say that it looks like someone put too many streamers on the beer keg and then barfed colour obnoxiously all over it. With Giratina, I can say that the problem is that somebody started designing it and then never stopped. The problems with Samurott are a little less surface-level.
Samurott's issues come down to two sources:
1) Samurott doesn't look anything like its previous evolutions.
Oshawott and Dewott are Otters and Samurott is a Sea Lion. I could honestly just stop there about why this is such a big fucking problem. Samurott simply does not look like something that Dewott would progress towards. As a matter of fact, Samurott seems like a step backwards. Dewott has the look of a cool, collected biped who could use its agility to wield its cutting tools. Its signature move is Razor Shell and you could actually imagine it using that shell to slice up its foes. Its body is lithe and streamlined for both aquatic and terrestrial combat. Samurott, on the other hand, looks like it has some major problems with being on land and the departure from its otter-like origins partly causes that.
I know that there are other cases of pokemon whose evolutions show a gradual or even a stark contrast from their pre-evolved formes, but these are few and far between. Blastoise may be classified as the "shellfish" pokemon, but its design is still that of a turtle. Indeed, most of the pokemon whose designs stray too far from that of their preevolutions will likely be featured in their own "Pokemon Redesign" posts here somewhere down the line.
I started mentioning, earlier, that Samurott doesn't look like it could handle a fight on land. This leads me to the second and most damning thing about Samurott's design...
2) Samurott doesn't look like it can actually do what its pokedex entries say that it does.
Clears throat, "In the time it takes a foe to blink, it can draw and sheathe the seamitars attached to its front legs."
Are you sure about that? Because as a quadruped, that would likely just cause it to fall over.
It bothers me that this is incongruous. It is a classic case of "say, don't show" and I have always been of the mind that the design of a pokemon should reflect its strengths and behavior. If Samurott tries to unsheath one of the seamitars on its front legs, then it will be unbalanced and it would fall over.
If the back legs of an organism are as long as the forelegs, then it will cause the organism to pitch forward if it is a quadruped. Of course I am simplifying things greatly as it also depends upon where the femur sockets into the hip and how the spine is situated, but it is a good starting point and Samurott is mechanically unbalanced if it tries to use its forelegs as grasping arms.
Furthermore, if Samurott DOES manage to wield one of its seamitars, it can only do so one arm at a time since the other arm needs to be holding its torso up. The center of mass of this organism does not support it being able to fight in the way described by the pokedex entry.
Now, I have seen artwork of this pokemon as a biped, wielding both of its seamitars with both of its arms and it looks very cool and I can finally see what the designers were going for, but all of this artwork is fan art. In every official depiction of the pokemon that I have seen, Samurott is an unfortunate quadruped. That is simply disappointing.
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In my redesign of the organism, I would portray it as a sleek biped with otter-like features. This design retains AND EMPHASIZES the Samurai-like features that are described in the pokedex whilst finally offering a depiction that actually could be a swordsman. It is a simple fix that would make all the difference.
