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[skulgan]

Bogged and Leeched: Pokemon Redesigns PT 1

@bogleech is a horror artist and blogger who is, demonstrably, a fan of strange and bizarre creatures and intriguing animals. He is also a fan of Digimon and Pokemon, and has two different series' critiquing the designs of both.

I enjoy these critiques, and have binge-read his Pokemon reviews and cannot wait for when he finally finishes reviewing Gen 9 (coming soon, surely), but when he doesn't like something about a Pokemon's design, or, alternatively, dislikes the 'mon altogether... OH BOY, does that man let you know!

As someone who has appreciates nearly every Pokemon and hasn't a negative opinion on any of them, really, I find his critiques in this department to hurt my soul a little... because, to an extent, I completely agree with his gripes. The man spits.

Something he has also done, on occasions where a design offends him just enough to have a gripe with it but not enough to reject the concept altogether, is draw up his own takes on designs for that Pokemon, and those combined with his region concept makes it very clear that he is, in fact, the same guy who drew the webcomic Awful Hospital and the indev tabletop game Mortasheen. They're not bad! But they basically always completely redo the Pokemon from the ground up using Bogleech's personal design philosophy when it comes to monster making, and it always feels like something winds up lost in the end.

Unsatisfied with this and always hounded by a desire to pander to internet micro-celebrities that I respect and like, I came up with an idea: take Pokemon Bogleech had a particularly negative reaction to and tweak their designs in an attempt to remedy the gripes he had with them, all while trying to keep the things that made people originally fans of those Pokemon to avoid turning too many people away.

Starting this... series? No idea if I'll make a second part, but! We begin with a line that Bogleech actually adored... right up until the ultimate betrayal.

The goomster!!!

The Goomy evolution line of Pokemon was introduced in Generation Six in the Pokemon X and Y line of games and is considered to be the game's "psuedo-legendary" dragon type Pokemon. Yes, it may not look it, but this slug eventually becomes a dragon, more on that later!

In his review, Bogleech's opinion of Goomy is... tepid, but optimistic, and upon evolving into Sliggoo, the 'mon quickly became his personal favorite for its strange, slightly disconcerting Pokedex entries and unique eyes.

Looking at it, its appeal is pretty clear: its a dopey sluggy slug that perfectly tows the line between cute and goofy. Goote? Coofy?

However, Bogleech's hopes are eventually dashed as the unique design is abandoned for a body plan and face reminiscent of Generation One's Dragonite.

On one hand, I disagree with how he feels about Goodra's body plan. Like it or not, but this is a dragon type Pokemon, and the Generation's psuedo-legendary dragon. There was no hiding from its inevitable fate, the slug had to become a dragon. In my opinion, the tubby, bottom heavy goof dragon style that was initially used by Dragonite was realistically the only real angle a dragon slug Pokemon could've taken that wouldn't just feel incorrect. Granted, there are some sea slugs that get real wacky with it, but Goomy's line is, demonstrably, not that. I have no qualms with how this thing is built, very strange fan-art on Google notwithstanding.

But that face...

Yeah, this does not inspire joy.

Bogleech gripes about its toddler-like head and facial proportions when critiquing its Hisuian design, and I actually think that issue is largely the fact that they just. stuck the face of a person on it. Were it more stylized like Sliggoo and I don't even think it'd be a problem.

One thing about this design that I also don't quite like that Bogleech never mentions is just how little the newly introduced green slime is used on the design. It's on the arms, it hangs off the bottom of the jaw like a really gross goatee, and that's it. I definitely don't think it should be used everywhere, but just a bit more surely wouldn't hurt, right?

However, I also understand that people adore Goodra and I, personally, love Goodra to pieces. With that in mind, here was the design I concocted to try and strike a middle ground between Leech's bogged down hopes and the current design:

Obviously, the change is very minor if you start from the bottom and work up, I added some more loose green slime coming off of the back of the calves/thighs (drumsticks? It's all one mass who knows), but left the rest of the body unchanged. Making it slightly less bottom heavy was largely accidental, as I couldn't quite get the proportions correct. Some may find that an improvement, to those who don't, just fish eye lens the bottom half of this design in your mind by like, 5%? And that should fix your issue.

The real big change here was the face and some of the head, as I went with a design that better follows the design philosophy of Sliggoo's face by borrowing the eyes from it verbatim. To not make it feel as derivative, I added an extra line to the eyes to make them almost eyelash like. They are also the only real indicator that the false eyes all along the side of Goodra are actually false. Or are they? Let your imagination go wild in that department.

I also changed the mouth to make better use of that split between the underbelly and back, ending in jowl-like flaps that protrude slightly out of the head to create the effect of a big mouth. However, that's simply a ruse! The actual mouth of this Goodra is still a cute little anime-like :D hiding underneath that loose slugskin. I also made an attempt to better connect the slime coming off of the bottom of the head to the actual mouth, so the drool-like effect should hopefully come off a bit more clearly.

I, personally, really like this design, and I think you lot will enjoy it too. But will The Insidious Bogleech? Eh, probably not. But I tried!

[skulgan]

aw dang where'd it go

[skulgan]

I am friends with this guy

BEHOLD. I HAVE SOLVED FICTION.

Split version under the cut:

If that's still not enough to make it readable here's a google drive link

[skulgan]

This character assessment is amazing but my favorite thing ever is learning that the greatest villain in DBZ was inspired by real estate speculators

Literal parasites

Which DBZ antagonist do you like the most?

Boring opinion, I know, but I gotta give it up for the Obvious Choice.

And I'm not just saying that because I haven't had a chance to talk about him yet.

Frieza runs a real estate empire that carries out genocidal acts of gentrification, purging tracts of land of their native inhabitants so he can sell their land for profit. Commenting on this choice for his ultimate villain, Akira Toriyama stated that he made this decision because real estate speculators are the worst people there are.

Fucking based.

From the moment we meet Frieza, he is a monster. Toriyama likes this Big Guy Little Guy dynamic where the Little Guy is the one you really need to watch out for. Frieza is the Littlest Guy ever.

He's so tiny. And yet you know exactly who the most dangerous person in this group is. Zero question.

By the end of this altercation, Frieza reveals one of his signature attacks, giving us our first glimpse of the kind of person and the kind of fighter he is. This is such an important moment for his character and I'm kinda mad that the anime had Dodoria do it instead.

Muri destroys the Scouters and blinds Frieza. I've talked before at length about the devastating impact that this move and the Namekian warriors' attack has on Frieza's campaign.

But once it's done, he has to face the music. He's not getting out of this alive.

In one last desperation play, Muri tells Cargo and Dende to run while blocking them with his body. And that's when it happens.

This is Frieza.

Specifically, this is Frieza's Death Beam. It's never actually given a name, but is generally referred to as Death Beam. We've seen a move like this only once before.

The Dodonpa, signature technique of Tsuru-senryu, first introduced by the assassin Taopaipai, was built for extreme lethality. This is not a technique for fighting; It's a technique for killing.

What makes Frieza's Death Beam stand out from the Dodonpa, however, is its accuracy and its speed. He threads the needle around Muri to hit Cargo before anyone even has a chance to react.

We see its accuracy and speed again six days later, when it finally catches up to the other child fleeing from him here.

The panelwork here calling attention to everyone's reactions as Frieza's ki bullet shoots past them, as his shot threads the needle between all obstacles in his path to strike his target far behind them. Dende is dead before anyone can even process that Frieza fired.

This is the difference between the two techniques. The Dodonpa is a gun. The Death Beam is a sniper rifle. Faced with the physical hurdle of bodies impeding his path, Frieza point-clicked Cargo and Dende to death.

He later executes Vegeta this same way.

Done with you.

All of this context for Frieza's sniping shot serves to set up the stunning subversion when Goku arrives to fight.

Frieza's never seen this before. Goku shouldn't even be able to see the shots coming until they've perforated his lungs. That's how Death Beam works. It's this moment that lays it out: Frieza's about to be tested like he's never been tested before.

Speaking of cool techniques, I've always been partial to this move from his Third Form.

The anime gives Frieza little ki bullets coming out of his fingers but I want to note that we never see a physical projectile when he's doing this. Frieza jams his fingers back and forth in the air while something pulverizes Piccolo.

I've always imagined he's poking the air so fast that it's hitting Piccolo with pressurized air currents. Similar to Goku's Mazoku air current punch from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

But that's just me.

In any case, Frieza's got some fun moves. He's something of a hobbyist martial artist. Which is to say, Frieza has an interest in martial arts. In addition to his Death Beam, Frieza's concocted a litany of other interesting techniques.

He even invented the Kienzan, independently of Krillin.

Though he can remote operate his Kienzan so it's strictly better than Krillin's. Frieza, in his spare time, has come up with a bunch of cool moves. Too bad he has no idea how to use them.

Frieza's greatest weakness is his inexperience. He practices martial arts the way a business CEO who bought a log splitter so he can cut some wood and feel woodsy practices agriculture. Frieza has never had a proper chance to truly experience martial arts, because he was born too powerful.

The only partner who's ever even dirtied his skin was his dad.

And even that isn't much. Frieza's too strong. He wants to pursue martial arts. He wants to hone his technique. But when you win every fight by blinking too hard in the opponent's direction, what even is there to practice?

Frieza created a transformation to seal away his immeasurable ki because he was born with so much ki flowing from him that he can't even contain it. At his peak, Frieza's ki bleeds out of him. He simply can't contain it.

Goku wonders aloud why Frieza took so long, even after the fight turned against him, to go to 100%. Frieza's been all "Oh I'm only using 10% power this is my 50% you made me go to 75%" and Goku's like, "Okay. My dude. What's this about, for real?

This, incidentally, is not a great translation. What Goku's saying here is supposed to be basically, "Perhaps when you use your full power, your body can't handle it."

He is correct.

Frieza's Full Power has a lot in common with Super Saiyan 3. His theoretical maximum ability is wildly different from the reality of what he's capable of, because he bleeds ki like it's going out of style.

So, while other characters wound up earning transformations that make them more powerful, Frieza created a transformation to seal away some of his incomprehensible ki.

Then he created a couple more because even though he could now control his strength and even manipulate the amount of ki he's releasing at a time, he was still too powerful for anyone to ever compete with and needed even more ki sealed away.

Again, not a fantastic translation from the people who brought us "bottom-tier boy", as Frieza's statement here could be interpreted as saying that he gets taken by a berserker rage or something.

What he's saying is more like, "My power is so great that I can't properly contain it."

Point is, Frieza transformed to lock down his ki and seal parts of it away, so he could control the rest better. Then he kept going, locking away more and more and more of his ki. And even at his most nerfed, he's still five times more powerful than the Second Strongest Guy in the Universe.

Frieza has never in his life had the opportunity to be pushed. That's what makes Goku so enthralling to him.

Frieza plays with Goku because he's genuinely having the time of his life. This guy can fight him in his Final Form. Nobody can fight him in his Final Form. He's so happy, he straight-up forgets that he's trying to complete a genocide against Goku's entire race.

He said that five minutes ago. Gohan's hidden power freaked Frieza the fuck out. Saiyans are too strong now. They've gotten too strong. Frieza cannot permit them to keep existing because they're getting strong. Every last Saiyan, every last one, must die. Every single one. Scorched earth, no survivors.

But then he meets a Saiyan martial artist who's a technical master and pushes him more than he ever thought possible and suddenly:

He goes from "Saiyans are TOO STRONG and they all must die because they might threaten me" to "OH MY GOD I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN CAN I KEEP YOU!?"

It's this desire for a true rival, this opportunity to satisfy his amateur's curiosity about martial arts, that ultimately unravels him. Frieza has one ruthless and pragmatic option for ending this fight once it starts to be too much for him. He can technically stop the fight any time he wants.

But he can't bring himself to do it. He wants to fight. He wants to compete. Frieza's been on the outside looking in at martial arts for his entire life and even when his greatest fears are fulfilled and the Super Saiyan is in front of him, he wants to try.

So when he does attempt to pull his Lethal Ragequit, he pulls back at the last second. He can't bring himself to do it. Goku initially assesses that Frieza held back out of fear of hurting himself.

But later, as Frieza begins unlocking the final chains on his ki, Goku changes his assessment. Noting that if Frieza really held back simply out of a mistake, he could have shot the planet again at any point to finish the job. He's been letting this play out because he can't bring himself to end the greatest fight of his life that way.

This fight is still happening because Frieza wants to compete. I mean, he wants to win, of course, but he wants to win as a martial artist. He's never truly gotten to be a martial artist before.

He is not the guy winning the gold medal at the Tenkaichi Budokai. He has never been that guy. He's the guy who buys up the land the Tenkaichi Budokai is held on and then bulldozes all the people off of it. But in his heart of hearts, he wants to be that guy. That guy is so cool. Frieza wants to play too.

In a sense, by hosting the Cell Games, Cell got to live Frieza's greatest fantasy.

This is who Frieza is. He's the cruel and wicked heir to Genocide Realtors Inc., who is in love with the idea of being Tenshinhan - A desire that exists at odds with - and undermines - his pragmatic business sense, so to speak.

He is the most vile character in the history of Dragon Ball. The worst kind of person. He is also an overeager child whose wealth and privilege prevents him from ever truly enjoying his hobbies, to an extent that he'd be almost pitiable but for all the genocides.

And he is Dragon Ball's greatest villain.

[skulgan]

Doodle's Bio (ACT ?)

CODENAME: DOODLE

AGE: PHYSICALLY 17, NUMBER OF YEARS SINCE CREATION UNKNOWN

BIRTHDAY: UNKNOWN

PRONOUNS: RESPONDS TO SHE AND THEY

SPECIES: PAPER-HUMAN MAGICAL CONSTRUCT

HEIGHT: 1.6 METERS

THROUGH EXHAUSTIVE EXPERIMENTATION AS TO THE NATURE OF "DOODLE" AND HER PROPERTIES, I HAVE CONSIDERED IT WORTH INVESTING IN AN ARTIFICIAL SOUL SO THAT THE SECOND HALF OF MY OVERARCHING EXPERIMENT CAN CONTINUE. ONE THAT MAY FINALLY ALLOW "DOODLE" TO BECOME HER OWN INDIVIDUAL.

AFTER GRANTING HER HER OWN SOUL AND TEACHING HER ABOUT THE RUDIMENTS OF INDIVIDUALITY, LANGUAGE, AND INTELLIGENCE, HER BODY WARPED IN A METHOD AKIN TO RAPID AGE IN HUMANS, NEARLY DOUBLING IN HEIGHT AND IN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL AGE, AS THOUGH HER AGING WAS STALLED BY THE LACK OF ONE.

LETTING HER ROAM AROUND IN THE OMEGA TIMELINE UNCHECKED HAS RESULTED IN INTERESTING, THOUGH MINOR, DEVELOPMENTS IN HER PERSONALITY. I EAGERLY WATCH TO SEE WHAT KIND OF PERSON SHE WILL EVOLVE TO BE.

THE ULTIMATE RESULTS OF THIS EXPERIMENT WILL PROVE TO BE VERY, VERY, INTERESTING.

MARGIN NOTES:

- DOODLE HAS BEEN TRAINED TO SPEAK IN BOTH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE.

- DOODLE HAS KNOWLEDGE OF A VARIETY OF MAGIC ATTACKS, THOUGH HER FIGHTING PROWESS IS... NOT QUITE HONED. CAPACITY FOR SELF-DEFENSE ACCEPTABLE.

- DESPITE NOT EXPRESSING MEMORIES OF ANY EVENTS PRIOR TO ACQUIRING A SOUL, SHE OCCASIONALLY EXPERIENCES NIGHTMARES RELATED TO PAST EXPERIMENTS I PERFORMED ON HER TO DIVINE HER NATURE. THIS IS TROUBLING AND WILL REQUIRE DEEPER ANALYSIS AT A LATER DATE.

- HAS MET OMEGA TIMELINE'S POPPY RECENTLY. I HAVE NOTICED SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HER AND "DOODLE" AND IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT "DOODLE" MAY BE "ANOTHER HER".

- CURRENT OCCUPATION: HOUSEMAID.

[skulgan]

Hm? TDAC is getting AUs already?

Oh well, that means I can make AU designs of Flauford!

Freakshow!Flauford: An AI who makes up a side-attraction of abominable botany. His favorite kind of fertilizer is rotting meat. Also he smells like rotting meat. He's a walking rafflesia patch.

He's still as enigmatic as ever, though he's completely mute and his demeanor generally comes off as significantly more idly threatening, what with more eyes to stare at you with that never blink. Ever.

If you need to get something done with this version of Flauford, you get it done and leave. Otherwise, stay out of his garden. Who knows what he might do if you somehow annoy him...

Carnival!Flauford: A lesser AI who takes up a job as a maid and/or janitor! Whenever a game needs cleaning or a stain needs scrubbing, Flauford is on-the-spot for all of your cleaning needs!

This version of Flauford is far more polite and she actually blinks regularly! But still speaks gibberish - that only other AIs can decipher, no less.

Based on a sunflower, she's a little ray of sunshine for everyone to enjoy! Well, almost everyone. Fortunately, if a master or guest is being unruly, she does have one thing she can do - give the aggressor a sweet, lovely, absolutely paralyzing death glare. Works some of the time!

Freakshow AU made by @hootbon, Carnival AU made by @sm-baby! They are both cool and cool and cool and cool and c-

[skulgan]

As someone who was a fan of Gooseworx "before she was cool" (AKA before Digital Circus spontaneously existed), I felt like I may as well throw my hat in the ring and tried to design a Digital Circus OC, taking inspiration from some of Gooseworx's character designs.

Felix Colgrave too, I think some of his work inspired the general "little creature :)" personality I ended up kinda giving him.

His name is Flauford, please treat him well.

[skulgan]

"I mean, sure, they can't eat it, but still."

You've heard Poppy! @corefrisk's (in-character) birthday is coming on the 29th of February, so if y'all could draw your characters bringing ingredients for the cake, it'll make the process much easier!

Sprite ingredients are acepted, too! They'll bring a nice [ Crunch ].

Just be sure to @ this blog or just reblog your reply.

[skulgan]

CIRCLE!!!!!!

Also this sona is really cute lol

Finished a commission for @valiant-heart, who wanted an Undertale battle sprite of their ‘sona!

[skulgan]

Look! A friend!

I was always a fan of SKL's persona design - while she hasn't changed much with this new ref, it's a great hallmark of her evolution as an artist! Also, her persona is extremely cute.

wake up babe new sona ref dropped

[skulgan]

I also miss when video games were released as a finished product instead of having 8 morbillion bugs

[skulgan]

I need to figure out how to Tumblr again because I haven't touched the site in aeons.

[skulgan]

Closed My Twitter Account

I am now free.

Tumblr, I'm back.

[skulgan]

Aw hell naw nyarlathotep 'boutta throw down w an elephant and will ferrel

was explaining to my mom on the phone the concept of a cosmic horror and she hit me with the one hit k.o. of "oh you mean like horton hears a who?"

[skulgan]

hey so does anyone remember that one fairy odd godparents episode where timmy’s dad pulls timmy out of having to eat their mom’s godawful cooking by dropping timmy and him into a giant underground bunker full of fast food that his dad had allocated over time or am i misremembering

[skulgan]

A  BoP Cherry Tree village, made with Mojang’s style of village construction in mind.

[skulgan]

how do they make villagers look pretty hELLO???

I felt like it