Character Designs and Inspirations
November 22, 2010 Tags: black, nindori, white
Category: 2ch, Black/White, Fun Stuff, Games, Japan 「日本」, Nintendo 72 Comments 
The next issue of ‘Nintendo Dream’ has leaked out on 2ch’s gaming board and with it revealed the thought process behind many of the character designs. Spent awhile translating these all for you because I found them pretty interesting 
I know it’ll be hard to tear you away from discussing the new English names though.
- Main Chracters: The leads this time around where decided to be a bit older than previous generations. To design the girl’s look (which, imo, is the superior design) Sugimori observed people he saw walking on the street.
- Prof Araragi: Originally the new professor was a chubby older man, but during the middle of development this was changed to a younger woman. Her image is supposed to be reminiscent of a New York businesswoman.
- Cheren: His design is based on his intellectual personality. The jacket he wears is one that the head of a Student Council might wear.
- Bell: She was made to be a character that did things at her own pace and was meant to be the opposite of the protagonist. Her design is also very rounded.
- Makomo: Her character design is based on dreams. She is meant to give off a dreamy look and has a very dreamy personality. This is all meant to correlate with her purpose as explaining the Game Sync function.
- N: He is a genius, but has a dangerous edge to him though he’s grounded in neutrality. His design is based on a typical “straight” cool guy, but slightly different (bi?!). The theme he was designed around was a music box, oddly enough.
- Geechisu: Designed to be a very odd character who wears odd clothing. He goes along with Team Plasma’s medieval theme and is meant to resemble a knight who might protect his king.
- Sanyou Trio: They’re meant to be triplets, but each have their own unique personalities. Their hair was designed to be the differentiating factor and gave a hint as to what type of pokemon they liked. At first impression they’re waiters but they have a very over the top and showy (word they used can also mean gay) way of doing things.
- Aloe: She is meant to be a spirited maternal figure and a strong black woman. The apron she wears is because of the fieldwork she does as museum curator and also mixes in the motherly image.
- Arty: He’s meant to be seen as an innocent guy who’s artistic and somewhat messy. His shaggy hair goes with that theme.
- Kamitsure: She’s based off a model and how robotic they are. She’s meant to give the impression of a small female robot.
- Yaakon: He is meant to seem like the president of a mining company following the American Dream. Even though western films depict cowboys as tall and lanky they needed to make him round and fat because the previous gym leaders had been skinny.
- Fuuro: Meant to be a sexy older sister-ish look who likes accessories.
Hope you guys found that fun to read and understand where some of the designs came from. Looks like America was a major inspiration for a lot of things in Pokemon Black and White.
Related posts:
- New Character: Riine *FAKE*
- A small notice
- Pokemon Sunday News!
- Random Rumor *UPD* fakes
- More Sugi Art! (UPD)
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FIRST……………. lol @ Showy or “gay”
“To design the girl’s look (which, imo, is the superior design) Sugimori observed people he saw walking on the street.” lol lots of girls in hotpants in Japan =]
“Kamitsure: She’s based off a model and how robotic they are. She’s meant to give the impression of a small female robot.” She look Fly as hell lol i love that she has high heels xD
Hmmm, explains why she uses Electric types…..
she has kind of a robot suit going on too
It feels really weird saying this but Fuuro is actually really hot. Probably too hot for pokemon. Lol. There is always one hot girl in a new region. But then again, these are anime charecters so………… yea. BTW for any haters that will take this and tell me i have no life, ill tell you that i have a bigger life than you haters. And i do.
The only reason people find her hot is because of her skimpy clothing and big boobies :U lolol
She isn’t as pretty and mysterious as Kamitsure, imo.
yeah i agree. Kamitsure is better than Fuuro. They are both good no doubt, but I think Kamitsure wins. Plus the “older sister” thing made me change my mind as well
fuuro is soo hot yes i cant wait for the release
I really enjoy the fact they incorporated different sexual orientations (albeit only implied) this generation. It really gives the feeling that every kind of person is important to society and deserves to be represented.
Gotta agree.. though it is a little coincidental they only did it when the Pokemon region expanded to take after America.
;
I always suspected that something was up with the triplets lol…however, I kinda figured that Arty was supposed to represent gay people, especially with the butterfly on his crotch. lmao. (Don’t get me wrong though, I have NOTHING against gay people and it’s obviously not right to assume just by looks)
FFFF nobody will EVER. EVERRRR. represent gay people like Dome Ace Tucker did.
DOME ACE TUCKER EVERYBODY.
REMEMBER.
http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Tucker
I never saw Dome Ace Tucker as gay, I always saw him as just….. weird
LOL tuckerr so hilarious maybe some relation to fantina?? she looks like a man to me and vice versa for tucker lol
Tucker had the manliest hairstyle of all Pokemon characters!
Artists often seem that way. My best friend is an artist, and he seems slightly flamboyant, but he’s as straight as they come.
Kamitsure: She’s based off a model and how robotic they are. She’s meant to give the impression of a small female robot.
They captured that well! She definitely has that poker face of a model. I always thought she was oddly beautiful with a strange outlook on life to appear so emotionless. Nice job.
Prof Araragi: Originally the new professor was a chubby older man, but during the middle of development this was changed to a younger woman. Her image is supposed to be reminiscent of a New York businesswoman.
Soooo glad they went with a woman. We already have a chubby older man. Love you Prof. Birch! <3
For the male protagonist they must have seen those street wise kids clad in all the baggy attire. XD
I love kamitsure much more now that I know that!!
What about the other character’s like Iris, Giima, and Caitlin?
Isn’t Caitlin based on a princess or something?
yeah shes from the battle frontier from dppt
She reminds me of Sleeping Beauty.
This question is TOTALLY off topic (but still pokemon): When will you make Unova pokemon pokepets?
When more English names get released
Ok, thanks!
thanks for the new post dude!
is that it? or is there more?
That’s it :p Would’ve translated more if there was more.
aw ok! thanks anyway. ( I know this isnt corocoro) I wish they did a corocoro in America! id buy it!
could there be a way to see more scans or a scan of the article?
This is leaked information I believe. If I see scans I’ll post ‘em
Awesome!!! A friend of mine is an avid collector of artbooks, etc. So anything that talks about how designs are inspired, or shows the evolution of the creative process, is a real boon.
I really am off topic today! Anyway, they usually have a computer animated video game for each generation, do you think they will have one for this gen? If so, what do you think it will be?
Like Stadium, XD, etc?
Yes. (and don’t forget Pokemon Battle Revolution)
i loved revolution i hope the next game like that turns out to be awesome with a story to it… like colosseum
N:OK, so i am getting a feeling he is going to be one of the most disturbing character around in this series
gesh: nothing gets more disturbing than penance as a battle theme music, also forever knights spinoff group
triplets: i believe, according to pj’s theory that the triplets are gay, that all three exhibit 3 stereotypical traits of gay people, green: calm, red: flamboyent, blue: mellow, its not breaking the inly rule, its just an assumption
museum gymleader: so this gym leader represents the history of unova, much like africans in africa
bug gymleader: HE IS A NATURALIST,REMEMBER WALLACE, AN EVOLUTION PIONEER, WHO SPENT YEARS IN INDONESIA STUDYING LIFE
elect gym leader: robotic because of how models look today, creepy
yakon: 1 word: TEXAN
geesh is so wierdd why would you were a dress when your a guy…. N looks like a sick character though cant wait till hes in the anime
in indonesia studying life? really? never know that @_@
I saw a robotic look to Kamitsure as soon as I saw her (because I can look past the breasts). I think it’s her eyes that did it.
And lol at the triplets, I’m guessing there’ll be a lot more yaoi pics of them because of that.
IMO, its definitly not the eyes that gave her the robotic apperance. If you look closely, her mouth and nose are so small it appears that they are not there. And you all no how robots dont show expressions or emotions. But i can see where you are coming from. Its like a mysterious look………
besides her breasts are just meh IMO…now fuuro is another storyy :p aahhhhh….
I don’t like breasts unless I’m stuffing socks in a shirt to make me look good for a drag performance.
for some reasons women in pokemon have no visible breast,not detailed ,you feel as if the are one piece !!!,may be because of the james indecent.
What about the last two (well, three actually) Gym leaders?
Bamboo?I think, the ice gym leader. Iris the dragon type gym leader if you chosen pokemon white and Shanga if you chosen pokemon black. That the total of 11 gym leaders, new record.
I find N really cute and his design is really cool. I also love his battle themes. He’s a pretty complex character considering that this is a Pokemon game we’re talking about (creators don’t bother creating unique personalities). Much more interesting than Barry or Brendan, in my opinion.
I agree, most of the time, the characters are quite one-dimensional while the rival is usually the most complex character, while only being two-dimensional, the Villian Team leader is also usually this.
The first ever three-dimensional characters were most likely Cyrus and Cynthia, especially in Platinum, where the characters were expanded upon and given more detailed roles. N here is also a very three-dimensional character, considering his actions in the game, if he ever appears in the anime, his character will probably be slightly more expanded, probably as much as possible without becoming part of the main cast…..
such an insult lol
The trial triplets are handsome young gentlemen who are showy (but not completely camp in my opinion), and I love it even more if they were gay cause it shows they’re not afraid to add in characters like that. Aloe’s design is just one big mess of unfortunate implications. Arty’s name and designmakes much sense when it said he’s artistic. Kamitsure was based on a robot, huh? She always did remind me of the Vocaloids in appearance, especially with the headphones… Like a combination of Rin and Lily. Yaakon reminds me more of a Sheriff, then a company head… And not all cowboys are skinny, they’re usually healthy with a strong sometimes muscular build (This coming from someone born and raised in the south). While I am bi for Fuuro, I can picture her as a cool big sis type of girl.
Oh, I forgot to menton that I really like the female character. I dislike Dawn/Platinum greatly and I was nicely suprised when I saw the newest female character. A little bit tomboyish and cute at the same time. I really hate over-girly designs, and I don’t intend to play as a male character (I’m a girl and no matter how ugly the character is I will still pick it..XD). And what can I say about the male one? Tis very Ash-like but I don’t mind. At least he has a normal hat this time ( yes Lucas, I’m talking about you).
yesh i would say the female character looks very good…maybe because she is older..
Hey PJ
Did you know that Reshiram and Zekrom will join with pikachu ballon in the Thanksgiving Day Parade?
I love it 
A 14 feet tall Zekrom
Nice
id love one of those….
That’s awesome I can’t wait to see them ^_^
Completely unrelated: PJ, when are we getting the fan art post??!
I wanna know to, mine was epic!
I know this is random but since this boards about inspirations, do you think they based Zuruggu on the Pants on the Ground guy? It does seem to be a “foolish” pokemon. xD
LOL ^ maybe gangsta ish
Poddo( the fire type gym leader) out of the three doesn’t seem gay. You guy notice that they didn’t make the gym leaders,elite fours and champion move once the battle start? They make Cheren and Bell move when the battle start…
————
Hey PJ, how the fan arts going?
only the water gym leader bro seems gay to me maybe cuz of the hair though…
There is no “seeming gay” thing. People don’t need to be completely flamboyant just because they are gay. A lot of them are just like straight guys in behavior.
furru is so sexy and cute I hope to find a real one :333
I don’t think the meant to make the trible brothers gay,they doesn’t look so,at least the green and red guy,but the blue :@
haha my thought too on koon
thats blue guys name hehe
Geez, you know you can’t judge a homosexual individual by appearance, right? Ugh, stereotyping…
Hey guys!
Sorry I haven’t been around to comment lately! I just wanted to tell the PJ team that they are doing an amazing job with their post-game coverage. I have loved prettymuch every article you have sent out so far. Keep up the good work guys!
Also: N is now the MASCOT OF MY LIFE!
<3
shaga seems like he will be important in the anime
sure, he is the last gym leader,it appears that iris in the anime is not a gym leader,she is just a little girl.
and she is not even a dragon type trainer.
It’s funny how all the inspirations for their designs are so queer but they actually make a lot of sense.
Last again!!!!!!!!!!! XD