Don’t you hate Mondays? I really don’t remember anything on Mondays. Can’t we just make it law that every test is on Wednesday? Wednesday is one of those days where you’ve gotten use to the weekdays. Anyway, by now it’s Tuesday and you guys have gotten used to the week a bit better. Either way, it’s only a few days until the Holidays. That’ll be fun. In fact, Christmas falls on a Tuesday. Hm! Cough cough. Let’s see where that goes..
Yeah, not cliche at all, haha.
So anyway, here’s one of my favorite Pokémon ever. Well, I didn’t like them nearly as much until HG/SS came out, and then they got a do-over in the new art styles. The do-over really kinda redesigned Feraligatr, which made it look so much more appealing, turning it into one of my favorites.. You could tell since my comment avatar is a Feraligatr, I guess.
Basis
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Dreadfully obvious, huh? An alligator? Too obvious, in my opinion. So naturally, let’s go straight to the genus species of it rather than just talking about the concept.
The first and seemingly most obvious pick is the American alligator. There’s a good few reasons for my choice on this one, but take a quick look at the picture up there. Don’t you just see Totodile? That face is pretty much clear as day– definitely Totodile. Sure, you may say that about a few photos of crocodiles, but I think the American alligator is the most definite– the snout matches perfectly as well as the dorsal ridges right behind the eye sockets.
By the way, American alligators are blue with a tan belly. That always stood out to me– they’re a dark, almost navy blue color, actually, I’d say it’s exactly the color of Typlosion’s back. I remember seeing a good few in person, it’s actually pretty apparent how blue they are compared to other crocodilians. Sure, the blue was probably chosen as a good representative of the typing, but I think if you had to pick a crocodilian based on water, you’d probably go with the bluest of them. Plus, think about it in general– the American alligator is the most well known of the alligators
So I had to touch on this, but it only really applies to Croconaw; plus, it didn’t feel major enough to track down some photos.
Croconaw draws plenty of design characteristics of a Caveman. It’s meant to come off as brutish, and generally it fits in with the biped nature of Croconaw. It appears to have a kinda toga-sorta thing on, with strange shapes. This is actually just the scales on its underbelly, but it does look like it’s an outfit. The features are more humanlike than the other evolutions as well– it has a shortened snout, more obvious hands, an upright posture, and is generally chubbier.
Generally, I’d say it makes him look much tougher than he could of, but I never really enjoyed this part of the design. Still, that’s just me. If I had my way, all three would be quadrupeds anyway.
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Biology
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So here’s a ferocious little fella.
Bearing some tough looking teeth, a broad snout, large eyes, four dorsal spikes, a tan underbelly, a great tail, flipper-like feet, and small hands, we can tell that Totodile is a force to be reckoned with; even as a baby.
Totodile has some very, very sharp teeth. They are not well developed, but they could clearly latch onto prey and stay on. They’re most likely to be sharper than its evolutions, as the young stages of creatures tend to have fresh, sharp teeth that are unaffected by wear and tear of normal life.
The eyes are large and give it a good field of view, perfect for an ambush hunter such as itself. It could easily lay right below the surface and see almost in all directions around it.
The spikes on the dorsal side of it may save it from aerial predators, as the spikes could something coming at it from above.
The feet are clearly designed to swim, and boy do they work well. They’re large and flipper-like, and propel Totodile through the water at a good speed.
This is a brute, that’s what there is to say here.
It has a rugged appearance with a hooked jaw, a snub snout, large arms, muscular legs, and a large body.
The hooked jaw is very unusual. It’s hard to imagine a good use for something like this.. Possibly, when the jaw is fully opened, the back set of teeth latch into the prey, and as the jaw closes, it forces it even deeper into the mouth, and holds it in with the front set of teeth on this strange indent. This would make a rolling action as it bites, ripping the prey to shreds in its mouth. Rather ingenious as I now think about it.
The snout is much shorter than Totodile’s, one would expect this would assist with the rolling mechanism in the back of the jaw, allowing it better puncture force on its prey.
The large arms would be good at fighting other creatures, though they are short and not as useful as its jaw in combat.
It has muscular legs, perfect for swimming, however the growth in the feet is stunted and they seem to be the same size as totodile.
Last, and definitely not least, is the beast of the three.
It has improved in nearly every fashion, from the muscles, to the claws, to the spines, to the teeth, to the feet, it’s all there.
The jaw has reverted from the hooked catch jaw, and is now rather conventional. It has larger teeth than the rest of its family, and they would very easily rip apart prey. However, it no longer simply relies on the fact it can use a special jaw or just its teeth to rip its prey apart. It now has a massive set of muscles around its jaw that close it with an extreme force and sharply plant its teeth into the prey.
This theme is all across the body of Feraligatr, in fact, the tail is now massive, with a huge set of muscles behind it. This means it can now use the tail for proper propulsion and steering when it’s swimming. Plus, the sharp spines on it would inflict even more injury when the tail is thrown at its competitor
The legs have doubled in size again, giving it a good speed on ground or in the water, and makes it able to push its weight around even better, adding to its physical fighting capabilities. The feet are now clawed, but remain rather small.
The arms have finally developed, with a strong joint to them. They don’t appear as muscular as the other parts of the body, but they now have well developed hands with some sharp claws. Now it can properly manipulate objects, as well as slash its competitors with its claws.
Feraligatr’s entire body is covered in padded scales, giving it excellent durability in a long battle. These are a new feature, not seen on either of its predecessors.
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So there– I got to do one of my favorite Pokémon ever. That was actually pretty fun, and I got pretty carried away. I also recently realized it takes much less work to write an article on three Pokémon than just one, since the articles are the same length. It just happens to break up the article more.
So, what’s your favorite water starter? Personally, mine is Feraligatr. Not trying to take over Dae Asks or anything, but I’m curious as to the general opinion on that. Feraligatr is probably the most beastly water starter– in my opinion.
I love having a conversation with you guys in the comments, so feel free to comment anything you have to say. That includes comments, suggestions, complaints, or complements!
-Mechanos