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aphbalticweek2020 · 4 years ago

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Alt-Baltic Pokemon teams! (+Updated concept art)

I finally finished this gsoxlaunsisd-

Another picture for @aphbalticweek2020 ! ...Over a month late. Hopefully it will still catch some attention. @_@. I want to submit a fic and was planning to draw the Hetalia Emblem versions of them too, but Augh school just began again and my PC broke and ffffff... I’m posting this from my phone and the Tumblr app sucks.

So here’s my versions of the Baltic trio as Pokémon trainers! It was probably a mistake doing all the coloring in Photoshop...

I had this idea for a while. I only had an idea for a full team for Liet, but I found that I was actually able to come up with full teams. I had this idea since looking at a Japanese video and other Japanese artists who did this concept... And in typical Japanese Hetalia fashion, focused mostly on shallow character quirks and, if there was any reference to the actual nation’s culture, surface level things instead of the nation actually being a nation. Big surprise. So I started forming ideas like this sort of as a response to those. And Alt-talia fortunately drops those more shallow, nonsensical character quirks, so representing their culture is indeed representing who they are. Though there’s someone on Amino who similarly goes through the effort! I’m sure you’ll find them if you search for Hetalia Pokémon teams.

Also, many aren’t to scale, but so many Pokémon are too huge to fit into a team shot at their real in-game size. Also damn you GameFreak for not having releases in smaller languages. I couldn’t make nicknames derived from their local names because there aren’t any, and certain diacritics have to be omitted.

Lithuania

I think I’m getting better at drawing Alt-Liet! But since this is in the Pokémon universe, I also tried drawing him with his canonical hair. I feel his favorite types would be grass, ghost, and bug.

Uzuhuol

Trevenant♂

Type: Ghost/Grass

Ability: Natural Cure

Possible ace Pokémon. From the old Pagan Lithuanian belief that spirits from dead ancestors resided in trees, as well as Lithuania’s connection to forests. One of Tolys’ oldest and most reliable companions. Name is a poetic word for “Oak”, the tree of the most important god in Lithuanian mythology. I feel Trevenant captures how I write Alt-Liet pretty well, and especially what separates him from canon Liet. Though I did debate what his signature Pokémon would be quite a bit.

Moveset:

Forest’s Curse

Phantom Force

Destiny Bond or Hidden Power (Electric)

Wood Hammer

Austeja

Vespiquen♀

Type: Bug/Flying

Ability: Pressure

Based on Lithuania’s long tradition of beekeeping. There is evidence that long ago, in ancient Lithuanian culture, bees were among the most respected of creatures, being referred to as if they were humans. There is probably no greater evidence of this than what she is named after, the goddess of bees. More info can be found here: https://balticmythology.tumblr.com/post/124316160169/baltic-mythology-austėja-austėja-ancient Lithuania also has a longstanding meadmaking tradition, and you can even apparently buy mead in supermarkets there. In fact, in my old concept art, you can see him holding some. Also has been with Tolys since forever, possibly being his first, and probably his signature Pokémon when beside other Nation Trainers. While I forgot to convey this, is often next to Uzuhuol, being almost inseparable.

Moveset:

Attack Order

Defend Order

Aromatherapy

Dual Wingbeat

Egle

Servine♀

Type: Grass

Ability: Overgrow

Ability: Unburden

Also one of Tolys’ oldest companions. Despite their types being polar opposites, surprisingly close with Gabija. Named after the queen of serpents in Lithuanian folklore (with no ė because the Pokémon naming system doesn’t allow Lithuanian letters), also the word for “spruce”, and readers of my previous stuff involving Baltic myth know that snakes had very important places in Baltic cultures as the animals of the sun goddess. Though Eglė was a water serpent. Because of the queen thing I did consider making her a Serperior, but there were too many big Pokémon in the picture.

Moveset:

Solar Beam

Magical Leaf

Safeguard or Sunny Day

Leaf Blade

Gabija

Rapidash♀

Type: Fire

Ability: Flash Fire

Named after the Lithuanian goddess of the hearth. Though her actual representative animals are cats and roosters, so thinking about it maybe I could have given him a Combusken or Litten, but I decided on Rapidash because I headcanon Alt-Liet has a Žemaitukas pony, plus the imagery of a white horse corresponds to the coat of arms.

Moveset:

Flame Charge

Stomp

Flame Blast

Smart Strike

Cepelinas

Drifblim ♂

Type: Ghost/Flying

Ability: Unburden

Vilnius is one of the few European capital cities where hot air balloons are allowed to fly, with them also apparently being a relatively common sight in other Lithuanian cities like Kaunas, and there are more of them per person in Lithuania than any other country. Apparently, they symbolize freedom there too. His name is Lithuanian for “zeppelin”, which is kind of fitting considering that’s kind of what Drifblim is in the first place, but more importantly that’s also the name of the national food of Lithuania.

Moveset:

Shadow Ball

Phantom Force

Tailwind

Payback

Kvapas

Spritzee♂

Type: Fairy

Ability: Healer

I couldn’t come up with a good name, so uncreative name, blah. Lithuania is the only country with an official perfume scent. Plus, fairy types fit him pretty well too. I guess Alt-Liet wouldn’t be the type to have such “feminine” looking Pokémon, but maybe it isn’t that implausible? Idk, I needed to give him a final Pokémon.

Moveset:

Fairy Wind

Sweet Scent

Charm

Echoed Voice

Augh, make a Stork Pokémon already, GameFreak... It would be perfect for the core Commonwealth trio, it would be a cute symbol of the relationship between Liet and Belarus, and a reminder of him and Poland’s connection, since they would have one too.

Latvia

Unfortunately I drew him in this weird position that didn’t let me put in a lot of bigger Pokémon, so he got a bunch of smaller Pokémon. Pretend some of them are just about to evolve or something. But happy I got to draw him in a hockey shirt like I wanted to last time but forgot. Also he seemed to end up with noodly Pokémon a lot, but that’s half coincidence and half because of the position I drew him in, not intending to draw a full team, and I was thinking I’d just draw Snivy and Ledian.

Oh, and I’ll be omitting moveset s from here due to time. Check the reblogs if you’re interested, I might add some.

Misinausis

Snivy♂

Type: Grass

Was considering making Serperior his signature Pokémon due to him owning a pet grass snake in Alt-talia, but for some reason I kept it a Snivy. I guess because I like the idea of him carrying it in his hood. I might draw him with Serperior if I have the chance to though. But his name is just the old name for “grass snake” (“Brass-ears”), I still can’t come up with a creative name for the poor thing, blah. Much like his Alt-talia counterpart, he usually stays out of his Pokéball and rides around on his head or in his hood if he’s wearing one.

Marite

Ledian♀

Type: Bug/Flying

The national animal of Latvia is the two-spotted ladybug. And that’s adorable. Apparently they have a very beloved part in Latvian pop culture. I was considering using the new Galar ladybug Pokémon, but I didn’t really think that the mad scientist/UFO motif fit. Though Blipbug’s nerdy look might have fit considering Latvia’s very good education rate, as to why one is in reserve.

Carnikava

Elektross♂

Type: Electric

Yeah, this choice might be surprising, but I wanted to include some fish Pokémon; and apparently lampreys are pretty abundant in Latvia, and are also eaten very often, with lamprey even being common in supermarkets (though that does make this kind of morbid lol).

Janis

Phantump♂

Type: Ghost/Grass

Latvia has similar mythology to Lithuania, and I did want to make him a Trevenant, but again, the floaty way I drew Latvia (though I guess he does look like he could be sitting too?). I thought that related characters having one Pokémon from the same evolutionary line was a cool idea. Much like Lithuania, the Ghost/Grass typing fits him very well.

Daugava

Whiscash♀

Type: Water/Ground

I wanted to include some kind of marshy Pokémon due to the Baltic region being abundant in bogs and other wetlands, and I wanted a real Water Pokémon. I found that apparently, the biggest catfish ever fished on record was fished in Latvia, and there is a particular part of the Daugava river in Latvia known for its abundance of catfish, and much like lamprey, catfish are a common food in Latvia.

Priede

Snover♀

Type: Grass/Ice

Forests cover as much as 42% of the country, with timber being one of the most important natural resources in Latvia, if not the most; so I wanted to include a significantly-sized tree Pokémon. I chose Snover, though if I’d had more space and it didn’t clash with the rest I’d make it an Abomasnow. Spruce trees are extremely abundant in Latvia, and big stretches can even be seen along his beautiful coastlines (wanted to included a reference to those too, but Palosand seems too artificial). Snover also grow berries, apparently, symbolizing more of Latvia’s connection to nature. Plus, Riga boasts the oldest Christmas tree in a city square (though Tallinn disputes that, as I wrote in one of my fics, Estonia’s First Christmas). Will be able to Mega Evolve upon becoming an Abomasnow.

Also considered Flapple, as according to one source apples have a significant place in Latvian culture, and according to another, apple trees as a whole do. ...Unfortunately, those were the only pages I could find with this info, so I had no way of verifying it.

Estonia

His Pokémon lineup came easily once I put my mind to it. ...Unfortunately, for some reason, I’m completely blank on names. So deciding to cut my losses, they’re unnamed, sorry. ^^; While Hetalia tends to put more focus on the techy side of Estonia, I based most of these on the abundant wildlife of Estonia’s vast forests, as he actually has the most forest cover out of the Baltics; as in, literally half his land area is forests, having some of the best forest protection policies in the EU. So he’d have caught most of these just taking a walk through his many, many forests and national parks. I’d presume his part of the world and Latvia’s would be Safari Zone central.

Slowking

Type: Water/Psychic

I knew instantly that Estonia would get Slowking. It was the one Pokémon I was planning to draw for him, with maybe the other being Porygon-2. It fits him perfectly; seemingly slow, but highly intelligent. Also, Slowpoke fish for food, and it’s a Water Type; the sea has a major presence in Estonia, from its many islands to coastline, and fish of course are part of the national diet, much like in Latvia. I was considering using the Galar version because Europe, but not only is its design not fully revealed yet, I realized that it might not even have the Water typing, so even if it’s design was revealed I’d probably stick with the original.

Luxray

Type: Electric

I thought that Slowking would be Estonia’s signature Pokémon, but looking more into it, Luxray is a strong, strong contender, if not even more of a perfect fit. In fact, it fits perfectly in like three ways. Estonia is said to have the highest density of Lynx in Europe. But on top of that, Luxray looks an awful lot like a lion, and I was pretty sure it was one when I was a kid.... Estonia’s coat of arms has three, blue, heraldic lions emblazoned very prominently on it... on a gold background to boot. And on top of that, Estonia has a law where all people have to wear a reflective accessory when out at night (I drew him with one when I last drew him, if you recall), and I’m pretty sure that’s what the yellow patches on Luxray act as... Seriously, this Pokémon was made for him.

Porygon-2

Type: Normal

We all know about Estonia and Skype and it’s internet infrastructure. In fact, I almost named it “Skype” (you’ll see an artifact of that here). A representative of the technical side of him, since I put more weight on his natural side here. I made it Porygon-2 instead of Z because those poor things are apparently as glitchy as Bethesda games. I kind of want this line to get a new evolution, the internet and CGI has obviously come a long way since then. But the Porygon line was the only option I had for “internet/modern tech Pokémon”, so I had to go with it.

Emolga

Type: Electric/Flying

Estonia has some of the few pockets of Siberian Flying Squirrel population in the EU, having gone extinct in Latvia, though they tend to be more widespread in Finland; this may be the Pokémon he shares with him.

Swellow

Type: Flying/Normal

I almost chose Taillow, because I realized that Estonia had a way higher proportion of fully evolved Pokémon, especially compared to Latvia, who he shouldn’t actually have such a big gap with. But since a friend of mine said that Swellow looked better in the group shot, Swellow it was. Barn Swallows are the national bird of Estonia, and were even apparently one of the national symbols used in the Singing Revolution by Estonians alongside the cornflower. According to one of my sources, in Estonian folklore, anyone who kills a swallow will go blind.

Leafeon

Type: Grass

Because of the forest cover thing, I wanted a grass type. A tree Pokémon preferably... But I ran out of space. Also I thought that there weren’t any good candidates, as I used the Phantump line twice and most tree Pokémon are either too heavily associated with Japanese culture or tropical, but I could have given him a Snover or Abamosnow like I did with Latvia, especially since Latvia got the coniferous tree despite Estonia being further north, and the Christmas tree debate thing. Oops. Still, I guess it slipped my mind since Latvia’s Snover was a pretty late addition. Maybe some other time. In anyway, I chose Leafeon, since you need to go deep into a forest to evolve it. It really has that magical forest creature vibe to it.

In reserve: Probably a Snover or Abamosnow, for reasons I already mentioned.

Hopefully, I’ll actually be able to get a fic out soon!

Bonus: Updated my concept art again!

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aphbalticweek2020 · 4 years ago

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Alt-talia Concept art: The Baltics

It’s been over for a while, but I finally got some time to submit stuff for @aphbalticweek2020 ! Hopefully this will be the first post of at least a few I can get out before reblogging stops.

Also, can I just say that it sucks when one person in your family basically has control of most of the house’s tech? Especially when one of those in the damn scanner? Thank goodness for online Photoshop.

In anyway, I wanted to submit some of my concept art for the Alt-talia versions of Estonia and Latvia (as well as a cleaned up version of my old Lithuania concept art)! Sorry the former two have less stuff, because the Lithuania art was drawn a while ago, and I didn’t want to take up too much time.

While I did think that Liet might be the most looks-conscious out of the three it sure isn’t conveyed here lol. I can’t get confirmation about it, and it might have to do with this being less cluttered too. But in any way, I want to draw them so they dress and look appropriate for Baltic male sensibilities with a smidge of stereotypical in there. Also I’m way too proud of how I colored those jeans.

I made both their faces longer since long faces seem pretty common in the region, though man it’s hard to get out of the habit of drawing oblong instead of round heads. I keep doing that for some reason.

The most changed here, as is pretty apparent here, at least in terms of looks, is Latvia. I tend to ratchet up the Balts’ heights, but Latvia shoots up more than a full foot. Because I’m sorry, a nation with some of the tallest people in the modern world should not be barely taller than me, a midget even by Japanese woman standards! Though I made him scrawny and have him a hunched posture to compensate; that track jacket does fit, sort of, but it’s also too short for him, because it was either that or buy something that would fall off his shoulders.

Also I gave him the same eyes as Liet; lacking visible pupils, flatly colored, shaded by default, and this sort of misty blue-tinged green grey eye color, hopefully giving him a bit of a mysterious effect. While I haven’t decided on the color (I’ve also considered forest green or ice blue), or even making them the same like I’m doing for now, I wanted to show that these two are related, and Hima sometimes tends to do that in his character designs; Germanic characters tending to have narrow eyes with small irises for example.

He’s a character I’m not too sure of in terms of characterization, but I’m thinking he’ll be quiet, maybe a bit unsure of himself, but a bit scrappy, by no means a crybaby. The scar on his cheek is admittedly less symbolic or something specific and more to show how he’s a tougher character, though he probably got it during one of many hard times he’s had over the years. When he was younger he would have had been rather spacey, having his head up in the clouds pondering about his place in the universe or something. Also I wanted to stick a potato in there somewhere, but I found there was nowhere to put it, so I had the snake saying (?) something about black balsam ice cream instead.

Those who have read “Child of the Groves” will recognize his pet snake here, a symbol of protection in Baltic mythology, and there was a tradition of keeping snakes as pets to ward off evil until relatively recently in really rural areas. I did kind of regret not putting him in a hockey jersey or something, but I like to imagine he wears this hoodie so it can ride around sometimes, as I wrote it doing in that fic (unfortunately I can’t decide on a name). I thought it was cute. And I gave him a hockey puck keychain and Kontinental Hockey League pin instead to make up for it.

Estonia’s design doesn’t change much, but as you can see his personality on the other hand gets a major overhaul. He’s basically The Spock of the group; stoic, intelligent, practical, slow and methodical. He rarely emotes except when drunk (and I realize I wanted to stick a bottle of booze in here somewhere. Yay) or online, maybe. In contrast to, say, Alt-Finland or Alt-Russia, it’s less a stoicness that comes across as grouchy and more extremely cool-tempered.

I once described Germany as having cornflower blue eyes, but I might want to scrap that, Estonia kind of looks like Germany here… But I drew him clearly distinguishing him from the Balts. I’m thinking he’d have the same eye color as Finland, at least, to show their relation as well.

As is common in Alt-talia, I also aged them up. Maybe they might be a bit too young still? But still, Latvia especially is pretty young for an European Alt-talia character.

Hopefully I will be able to add more to this in an update before the event stops reblogging!

Here’s a less Photoshopped version of them:

And here’s Liet again, a bit cleaned up since his head looked like it was melting last time. He’s supposed to be a bit of a short-tempered grouch, though that may be changing recently. Sorry it’s still a bit dirty though.

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