Pokéology: Nincada, Ninjask, & Shedinja

Hey guys, this article was written last minute! I totally got bogged down in homework, in fact, I’m actually taking a break from it to write this, haha.

So I didn’t take much thought into what Pokémon I chose, but I think you will all enjoy my thoughts– this is an animal I have a lot of first hand knowledge about, and I’m sure you have seen these guys all over the place recently. I sure have.

Nincada, Ninjask, Shedinja. Three Pokémon, and you can get two of them from a single one! Crazy, but it makes so much sense.

So let’s get right onto it– I’m going to use some of my own photos for the basis. Which is a cool thing to do.

Basis

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So I already apologize for this one, it was a rare find to see one out of the ground, and this guy was much faster than he looks!

Here’s a dog-day cicada nymph. They’re the American cicadas that come out every year with the season, rather than other cicadas that pop out at specific intervals.

You can see how plain this is– the tiny wings, the front arms, the legs, the little antennae, the eyes, it’s all there. Nincada is pretty plainly a cicada nymph.

Though, it’s hard to nail down an exact species. Personally, Nincada may be based on an Annual Cicada Nymph– a species that is mainly brown/tan with some green accents to it. However, it may just be a stylized concept of a cicada nymph.

This was an interesting picture– the cicada was injured and flying in circles on its back; thus I took some time to find it a hiding space, and got it up to the hidden spot with a stick it crawled onto. With helping the little guy, I got some fantastic shots off.  Adorable little face, right?

Ninjask’s ability is based on the speed of Cicadas too. I’ve learned that from experience– it hurts when these guys hit right into you. They’re fast, loud, and pretty big bugs. You seem to always hear them, but never see them, much like what is stated in it’s Pokédex.

Now this is dang obvious, but this part of the article is kinda a technicality; might as well show off my photography, right? Anyway, how about the periodical cicada?

Now I’ll get off showing off my photography to show you the species they based Ninjask on– the periodical cicada. These guys only show up every 13 years, and when they do, they’re crazy fast and all over the ground. Last time I saw them they had littered every inch of the ground in a sudden blast of cicadas. It was quite a sight.

Clearly the patterns and colors show off Ninjask’s basis.

Now as much as this looks like the first picture, it’s not! It’s the shell.

Yup. This explains everything to do with  Shedinja and how it evolves. See the eyes? Doesn’t this shell just look haunted to you? I always wonder if they’re about to jump right at you.

Clearly, when Nincada evolves, all the shells are haunted– but you can only capture the possessed shells when you have an extra Pokéball in your party.

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Biology

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Here’s one of the cutest, most innocent looking bug types. It’s not much to look at, it’s a pretty simple Ninjask Nymph.. Or is it?

This guy is made for digging. Dig. Dig. Dig.  Those front arms are like mini shovels– the position of them, and the size totally outweigh other possibilities. Also, they look much more sturdy to me, which really shows off how prepared they are for digging.

The back legs look good for leaping, much like a cricket, and the little wings could help with any leaps, although this would only be a last resort.

It has two antennae, which clearly allow it to feel in its small tunnels it digs. However, the eyes are also adapted to see in low light, as you can see by the pupils.

Nincada just feeds off tree sap while in the ground, so it doesn’t have much to worry about when it comes to predators, although there are some burrowing mammals such as Diglett it could worry about. Clearly it would come down to which one can dig faster.

So here’s a beast. Although it comes off as a predator, it’s clearly a vegetarian– it feeds off tree sap!

The wings are massive, clearly it’s focusing on surface area for max speed. The back also seems muscular– providing even more speed. Ninjask has the ability to be the fastest Pokémon out of all of them in a long battle, and it makes sense– this is a force to be reckoned with.

The front arms are adapted to grab right onto any surface, and they seem to have evolved little from Nincada’s arms.

The body has been streamlined, and it looks agile. The Pokédex says that it was once thought to be invisible due to its speed! So you can tell how fast this fella is.

Now this is the strangest of all three of them.

Here we have what is left of Nincada when it evolves into Ninjask. That’s pretty startling. The wings are what is left of the shell when Ninjask’s mighty wings came out, the very basic form that was left with the shell.

The body is completely empty– in fact it’s thought that staring into the emptiness of the body will steal your soul away. It’s possible it could be a black hole in there– staring into a black hole makes you lose part of yourself technically, but that’s just trying to explain paranormal stuff with science. It’s whatever you take of it!

Now, it doesn’t move any of its body parts, breath, eat, or do much of anything. However, it has many paranormal powers it can use, and it doesn’t need to move an inch to use them. It’s guarded by a mysterious force that can only be trumped by specific types of attacks. This begs the question again of what lurks behind the hallow shell!

It has a halo, reaffirming the paranormal powers in one look– it seems to be the part of Nincada left over, either the pacifist, or the evil left inside. Who knows? Is it evil, or peaceful? It’s a creepy, but interesting question.

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So, what’s your opinion? Is Shedinja evil or peaceful? I’d love to hear.

Any comments you have, I’d fancy a chat! Suggestions? Questions too! I’ll answer anything in particular.

-Mechanos