Happy new year! The article was a bit later than normal, since I’ve been busy with plenty of celebratory stuff. Hopefully, the year’s already been a good one for you all; it’s been pretty great for me at least.
So there was a lot I could’ve gone with for today, but this one really hit me for a new year. I guess Victini or Bulbasaur would be better for new years, but y’know, these three were my first Pokémon. When I first started playing the games, Treecko was the first thing to grab my attention.
They’re some of my favorite starters; I remember picking Treecko astounded by the design of a gecko. I always loved geckos, so naturally I went with him. All in all, the three of them have some beautiful designs, and Sceptile holds its own against the other starters.
Basis
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This guy is pretty obviously the basis of Treecko, although it doesn’t exactly match in color.
The Leaf-tailed gecko, the most flat out and apparent option of all of them. After all, it’s a gecko that evolved to blend in with plants, while utilizing a leaf-like tail. I’d expect, when designing a grass-type gecko, the mind would go right to the “Leaf-tailed” gecko; mine sure did when I saw Treecko’s grass type, at least.
Treecko’s tail seems to be plant-like, if not a plant itself. This really goes hand in hand with the leaf-tail as well, and it was one of my main reasons for picking it. Sure, the colors don’t match, but they always try to keep starters as the color of their type, for new people.
Though, to be fair, doesn’t that picture just scream Treecko?
Now you know this guy very well, although you might not be used to seeing it with feathers– this would be Velociraptor, a now-famous species of dinosaur.
I’ve always seen Grovyle’s leaves to be ‘feathers’ of a sort; after all, take a good look. Its leaves are in pretty much the exact positions you’d see plumage on a raptor such as velociraptor, including two leaves for its tail.
As for velociraptor, it was a very small, well-known raptor. At most, it was only two or three feet tall; much like Grovyle. So all in all, the closest raptor would have to be Velociraptor.
This one’s a bit more obscure, but I’m just as confident about it. One thing first, Sceptile seems to generally be based on theropods. I don’t believe there’s any in particular it was based on truly, but there are some it looks very similar to.
Sceptile’s head is very uniquely shaped, and I think that would be the best way to guess at which theropod it originally was designed after. After all, a theropod dinosaur is any dinosaur with that general body plan; since that’s the main way of classifying fossils.
But if you had to get specific, I’d say Carcharodontosaurus (Try saying that five times fast!) would be my guess. It’s not very special in behavior– but it had some crazy teeth and a wild skull.
Carcharodontosaurus’ name refers to its teeth, which are very sharp, and apparently ‘shark-like’ in nature. Generally, it was a big dinosaur, and it wasn’t preyed upon by many other dinosaurs. It was agile however, and it took down plenty of creatures in its day.
I feel like the head is more accurate to Sceptile than many others, and it also has two ridges on its back, much like Sceptile.
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Biology
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Here’s the most agile starter Pokémon of them all, and it lives up to that name exceptionally well.
This guy has slender arms, sturdy legs, some large feet, a bulky tail, a wide body, a pointed head, and a very small jaw.Generally speaking, you might not be able to see how Treecko can manage that sorta speed while maintaining some bulky features, but take a better look.
First, the feet; the feet may very well be all it needs for that sort of speed. They’re very large, and have some sturdy-looking legs to back them up. Compared to the rest of the body, the feet are large enough that they would propel it with enough surface area to push off of objects with great speed. But that’s not all there is about them, as they can even grip onto glass. How? Well, these feet are covered in tiny hooks which latch onto the molecules of the glass. However, yet again, the main thing that keeps it up is the surface area of these large feet.
The hands and tail are most definitely used for balance when sprinting through the treetops, as missing a single step could prove fatal to a fella like this. But I’d say the arms are the right length for grabbing branches as well, so they most definitely assist it in jumping through these treetops.
If Treecko wasn’t agile enough for you, its evolution should be everything you need in agility.
Everything about Grovyle is agile– it has clawed toes and fingers, slender but strong appendages, a streamlined body, and is covered in streamlined leaves.
The feet on it have changed drastically, now with hooked toes to grab branches. The legs are muscular as well, giving it the ability to throw itself around the tree tops without missing a single step.
However, it seems adapted to another kind of travel, using these new leaves. Judging by these leaves, it has adapted to jump and glide from tree tops to other trees. This gives it a much greater range to scout through without leaving the tree tops that it calls home. The entire body has streamlined to be able to glide at a decent speed, but the chances are it could only maintain flight for a matter of seconds, thus still limiting its range.
Here’s a radical change if I’ve ever seen one.
Sceptile can no longer spend its life jumping from tree to tree, and this is made rather apparent from the bulky nature of it. The legs are clawed and muscular, the arms are bulky and long, the body is upright and lacking any sense of being aerodynamic, and it has gained seeds on its back as well as a massive, fern-covered tail.
Clearly, it has changed to fight any opponents on the ground using its bulk, rather than fighting guerrilla-style using agility and energy. It’s more conventional, most likely fighting by kicking and slashing with its claws. It seems to have hefty teeth, but it doesn’t appear to use them as much, having a small jaw.
The fern would most likely assist in feeding it, but would also make a hefty weapon when used against its enemies. Still, it likely performs photosynthesis, and thus feeds Sceptile in times of need.
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So anyway, happy new year– again. Let’s make this year even better.
If there’s any suggestions for the new year of articles, I’d love to hear. Or just have a chat, since I’m open to talking more about any of these three.
Is Sceptile wise, or just relaxed? Sounds like an odd question, but the eyes have always given it a wise-ish look. I guess it comes down to opinion, but I always saw it as just being relaxed.
-Mechanos