On the Origin of Species: Woobat: Investigating the inspirations behind Pokémon

[BulbaBot]

On the Origin of Species: Woobat: Investigating the inspirations behind Pokémon

In another column exploring the likely cultural and zoological origins of Pokémon species, we take a look at Woobat, the Bat Pokémon.

Read more on Bulbanews

 

[Garren]

Yay! Woobat!

One of my favorite new Pokemon...a nice replacement for Zubat all around, and cute to boot!

 

[Bittersweet]

Wow, the design team actually puts a lot of thought into this stuff.
I appreciate the designs a lot more than I did before I knew what they're based of.

 

[Dodger Jazz]

After a week of exams and doctor appointments, I come back to see a new column! I love the origin of species articles and I like Woobat, so this make me to like the thing even more.

 

[System Error]

THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Glad to see this thing back. Now I'm left wondering when my column is going to be able to see the light of day...the first is finished, it's just that I need it to go through and whatnot.

 

[mini-chan]

Yay!

New column!

Great job on this one.

 

[DracoMaster121]

Awesome I have been waiting for a new one.
Does anyone know if there are any new looking foward articles coming?

 

[System Error]

Awesome I have been waiting for a new one.
Does anyone know if there are any new looking foward articles coming?

I think those were made before Black and White were to come out (hence the name), and after the last one, which was released shortly before the Japanese debut of B&W, they said they were going to start another column. Which never came to fruition. Just like my planned column, except I am certain I have worked on mine. :/

 

[winstein]

Hey, you're back with these! I remembered that you wanted to do this species of Pokémon, so it's great to see that you really did. Honduran white bats are quite cute, I agree.

Thanks for that great read!

Thanks for reading.

 

[SkyknightXi]

Critters I'm thinking would make likely fodder for the next G5 column: Watchog (meerkat), Seismitoad (Suriname Toad?), Carracosta (early sea turtle, I guess...When do we get a Phobosuchus-based fossil, anyway?), Escavalier (snail-vore beetle that hides in the shells of recent prey for ambush), Jellicent (crown jellyfish, then Nurarihyon when GameFreak realized there were too few ghosts in Unova), Eelektross (hagfish or lamprey...probably the latter, since we have a hagfish in Barboach already), Chandelure (will-o-the-wisp).

{waits to see which one, if any, is correct}

 

[The Puppetmaster]

Wow, those bats are tiny. When I first saw the picture, I thought they were fruit and asked, "Why is this here on a page about Woobat?"

It's interesting to learn why the heart on Woobat's design exists. Echolocation (and how the nose is used in it) also fascinates me.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Faye Scarlet]

Ooh gosh, I never knew bats like Woobat even existed in the real world! @A@ As always, I learn something new from the "Origin of Species" articles! Awesome writing!

 

[The Miniryu]

Sound waves from the nose? Thats not weird at all(Sarcasm) But seriously those little bats are awesome. This article truly proves Woobat>Zubat.

 

[yourlilemogirl]

d'awwww i knew i loved Woobat for a reason, and now i've been given one more! <3 so cute awesome article too!

 

[Baroque]

Oh holy crud. I love me some "On the Origin of Species." Glad to see its back.

 

[Volphied]

YES! NEW COLUMN!

Wow, the design team actually puts a lot of thought into this stuff.
I appreciate the designs a lot more than I did before I knew what they're based of.

And this is why the On the Origin of Species is my favorite series.

 

[Kamex]

It's great to see this column making a return, I really enjoy it.

It was interesting to learn about Woobat's background.

 

[Green Zubat]

Whilst this was a good, illuminating article I would've liked to have seen more discussion on the Woobat line's odd choice of primary typing [psychic] by GF, then again he might just be saving this for the Swoobat article (if there will be one). I'm really happy to see that the column has returned, btw

I found the part about the harems interesting too, lol.

 

[The_Qu]

Kinda surprised the Shiny wasn't mentioned. It's green- probably a nod to their camouflage, as mentioned in the article. Really neat when they do stuff like that with Shinies.

 

[Poppy Appletree]

One of the big design themes in Generation V is common descent, which is apparent from how many Pokémon parallel those of other generations, though most especially Generation I. Despite Unova being a long way away from Kanto and the other regions, many of its Pokémon show distinct similarities to those from the other regions.

Some are very obvious - Throh and Sawk quite obviously mirror Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. On the other hand, some are less apparent - I've been thinking about Blitzle and its evolution, which based on zebras, and what struck me is that equids are very rare in the Pokémon world, with the last non-legendary example being the Ponyta line; perhaps adding credence to the idea that the two families are related is that Blitzle and its evolution learn Flame Charge, a curious move for Electric-types.

Of course, this isn't new - looking at Rhydon and Aggron, for example, it's easy to imagine that they branched off from each other at some point in their history.

Anyway, seeing as how I'm posting this, it's obvious I think you should do a piece on common descent and divergent evolution.