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Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

I've come up with a Power Rangers/My Little Pony crackfic, but I only feel motivated to write it when I'm at school. I haven't had this problem in ages.

EDIT: I think it's self-consciousness. I don't have this problem writing Moonkind: The Wayward Butterfly because I've seen time and time again that people will read Pokémon-turned-human-in-Equestria fanfics.

EDIT2: Rambling aside, here's something I've been thinking about for a while: Pokémon designs are getting more realistic. There are a lot of Gen 1 Pokémon that don't look like anything, but that died out circa Gen 3.
179Mareep.png
Wooloo.png

These are both clearly sheep, but the newer one has horizontal pupils and folded-over ears. I prefer Mareep's design, though. Wooloo could be mistaken for any cartoon sheep. And now I want to see a Shaun the Sheep parody in Sword and Shield.
 
Last edited:
Nitro Indigo said:
These are both clearly sheep, but the newer one has horizontal pupils and folded-over ears. I prefer Mareep's design, though. Wooloo could be mistaken for any cartoon sheep.
Click to expand...
I guess that's the kind of thing that happens once you reach 800+ Pokémon. Not that I think there's really anything with Wooloo by itself, mind; although I probably would take Mareep over Wooloo when you compare the two like that.

That said, I will say that I kind of prefer the series' older art styles in general, especially once you start getting into the human designs (oh boy). To get an idea of what I'm thinking about, compare the player characters from the first four gens or so to those from the remakes and later gens (including the eye designs in particular, which probably stick out the most to me out of everything). That's not to say that I hate any of the later designs or anything, but they're different, that's for sure.
 
That said, I will say that I kind of prefer the series' older art styles in general, especially once you start getting into the human designs (oh boy). To get an idea of what I'm thinking about, compare the player characters from the first four gens or so to those from the remakes and later gens (including the eye designs in particular, which probably stick out the most to me out of everything). That's not to say that I hate any of the later designs or anything, but they're different, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

Same. The early character designs for the humans were cartoony but still had a degree of realism to them, and their outfits were pretty practical. But starting with Gen 5, the character designers seemed to want to make the girls wear clothes that were as skimpy looking and impractical as possible. I mean, super short shorts, miniskirts, and shorts over shorts? Thank goodness the player characters in Sword and Shield have more realistic designs and clothing, and thank goodness customization is a thing.
 
When people talk about trends in pokémon design, I always feel that the examples provided are cherrypicked. Older generations had simple, complex, realistic and goofy designs. (oddish, alakazam, pidgey, exeggcutor). Newer generations have simple, complex, realistic and goofy designs. (morpeko, obstagoon, wooloo, duraludon).

There have been changes in art direction, elements of style, and the nature of the game engine being designed for (notice a lot of very recent pokemon look their best as 3D models, not as Sugimori art), but I don't think that should be taken as a blight on the cool, cute and fun pokemon designs coming out each gen.
 
I'm remembering again that time on Reddit where someone pointed out that a lot of Gen 1 Pokémon have triangular eyes, which eventually culminated in someone making a graph of the most common eye shapes in each generation.

The generation where I can pinpoint the design trend the most is Gen 2. Two dominant colours, usually contrasting, and they're either blobby or have triangle eyes.
 
Pokemon designs looking moderately different over the eras I'm fine with. Human designs, however, I'll definitely agree with Juliko. I admit, I'm a fan of skimpy clothing, but it has to be practical. Ditto to the male characters, too, the clothing they wear has been getting more and more "I'm a pretty anime" and less and less "I'm a homeless trainer but that's okay, I can handle it". My favorite example is Gold vs Ethan: (spoilered for omgswearing)

unknown.png

Granted, both of these designs are just asking to contract Lyme disease, but at least Classic Gold looks like he's ready to rough it in the wilderness, rather than walk down to Starbucks.
 
Juliko said:
shorts over shorts?
Click to expand...

My boy Brendan was rocking athletic shorts over sweats in gen three and gen six actually removed it. The designs haven't changed nearly as much as everyone seems to think, and there's just as much ridiculousness in the first few generation designs as in the current gens.

And in response to that ever popular Ethan Pic, I'd argue it's the other way around. The newer design is a pretty standard modernization of the outfit and both capture the same outfit style pretty well. In fact, if I had to say, I'd say original gold looks more like he's going to the gym for a quick workout while ethan looks like he's going for a hike on a chilly fall morning.
 
The only issue I have with new Pokemon designs is that the mammalian Pokemon (like, dogs, bears and stuff) aren't as spiky and rugged looking as they used to be. Newer gens focus on rounded, cute/sleek designs for the 'mons, even for ones which are meant to be very tough-looking. This works out very well for some Pokemon, such as fairy or normal types, but kind of backfires on dark/ghost/steel types - types which have a reputation for looking creepy, ugly, or rough-and-tumble.

...I can't think of any actual examples right now, though.
 
One thing I find hilariously sad is that Pokémon no-one likes have really detailed origin descriptions on Bulbapedia, but Eeveelutions are just "it has traits similar to fennec foxes."
 
i've heard the gen 1 triangle eyes been called "toriyama eyes". as for the later gen one, that's very much cherrypicking. for example, incineroar has triangular eyes with thin irises without highlights, and there are plenty of pokemon with totally unique eyes, such as golisopod. i'm okay with people saying they don't like the new designs but cherrypicking to fake a trend annoys me
 
they all seem somewhat cherry picked because they are all cherry picked. I can think of reverse examples off the top of my head with little effort. Grimer is gen 1 but looks like the supposed gen 7 style. Talonflame is gen 6 but looks like the supposed "realistic mon" style of 1. I could go on for a while
 

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