Today really creeped up on me! I had been so overwhelmed by projects and the weekend that I didn’t realize it was suddenly Tuesday. Hopefully, it’s Tuesday. Right? I’m not posting this on the wrong day, hopefully.
Either way, here’s a Pokémon most of you probably forgot about.. Or, maybe you absolutely love it, it seems there’s no middleground when it comes to obscure Pokémon. I remember someone comment on it being one of their favorites, and it’s always been one of mine as well. So naturally, why not give this guy some spotlight?
Basis
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So, this wasn’t unexpected.
Meet the Apatosaurus, one of the most well known dinosaurs. Generally speaking, I’m gonna talk about the Sauropods. Tropius doesn’t match any known sauropod, due to it lacking any form of a tail.
That’s pretty big in itself, but consider this, can you imagine a Pokémon like Tropius with a tail? I think it would just distract, and it would be hard to give Tropius its pudgy look with a tail. So, to be fair, this is an acceptable change. However, in reality, no known sauropod lacks a tail, as they were typically used to balance with such a massive, powerful neck.
Still, Tropius is no doubt a sauropod, and that leads me into my next point.
Naturally, and this is clearly based on years of detective work, but Tropius has bananas hanging on its neck.
Tropius itself is based on the Musa genera– the kind of plant we know to us as bananas. As you can see above, even the wing-leaves were based on this plant. Bananas are one of the most well known tropical fruits, and it matches the concept of a jungle dinosaur very well. Naturally, sauropods did not have access to bananas back in the day, but if they were still around, they would naturally probably feed off of the banana trees.
This also could help explain the lack of a tail– since Tropius, without a tail, mimics a tree. You see the plump base which fans out into the legs and its long neck, much like a banana plant.
By the way, just to criticize everyone involved, including myself, a banana is not a tree, it’s technically a herb plant. So a banana ‘tree’ is just a giant freaking herb. Not kidding.
This is just a quick note, but come on.
It’s a giant reptile, with a long neck, wings, and a good sided body. You almost have to talk about dragons.
Sure, they’re vastly difference in most appearances, but you can’t help but notice when it comes to winged reptiles that this was probably a motivation. It’s not like it was based on a pterodactyl or velociraptor.
Mainly the wings though, even if they’re plants. It’s practically just a nature dragon if you want to look at it in specifics.
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Biology
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So here we have another astounding creature this week. Majestic, yet plump, with a certain power yet adorable look involved.
Let’s collect our thoughts though. Tropius has a lot to look at– from its six claws(uneven!), to its leafy down, to its massive wings, to the bananas hanging off its neck, to the helmet it has!
To start though, let me be a little too OCD. I just find it interesting that the back feet seem bigger than the front feet, and I think I have a valid explanation for this. Tropius flies– and when Tropius flies, the back end leaves the ground last. In this case, when Tropius lands or takes off, the wings take a majority of the pressure and force of landing. It’d take more muscle to cope with all the impact and pressure put on it, and thus I think this would perfectly explain why it has such big rear feet compared to the front feet.
Tropius appears to have plants growing out all over its body, though it seems to have some decision about how to handle these plants, as they’re very well thought out and used.
First of all with these plants, it has a fine leafy down covering the dorsal and anterior ends of its body as well as the ‘helmet’ on its head. This would help with warmth, and could also serve as protection for its vital organs, depending on how tough the leaves are.
Next, the four massive leaves it has for wings. These wings can clearly left its weight(220 pounds), although one might doubt that at first. Each wing clearly covers at least 13.5 square feet in my calculations based on the height of Tropius, and this is much bigger than it appears to be from the outside
As for the bananas on its chin, this is rather interesting. I can only assume that Tropius can eat them as a back up source of nourishment, but wouldn’t they come from its nutrients in the first place? Iit wouldn’t make sense for self-cannibalism. It’s possible it just comes with its symbiotic relationship with the plans that come with it– as they would need to get something out of this as well. Or it may relate to breeding, though that could go in many ways. The other, final option is that Tropius just uses it as a form of charity, and can easily give out food to others who need it more than itself. Tropius may get nothing out of that option, but it’s still possible.
On top of all of this, Tropius is very well camouflaged in the jungle, based off of the fact it has real plants covering it- the bananas could help conceal it as well.
However, a better question is about what it would have to be challenged by to require all these projection mechanisms? Having camouflage is great, but having wings as well is overkill. Either way, it would take a large predator to take down a Tropius, but large predators seem to be few and far between. Especially on the places you find Tropius, it seems as though it’s the most powerful Pokémon in the areas it can be found in.
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So there’s this week!
I find it sad that not as many people pay attention to Tropius as it deserves, but, ah well. What’s your opinion of Tropius? I personally really like it for its adorable design.
Questions? Criticisms? Did I make any mistakes while passing out on my keyboard? Did you like the article? I love talking to you guys, so..
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