Because people don't know the difference? Either way, Turtwig is BASED on an tortoise.
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Sun & Moon Starter Pokemon
- Thread starter TyXo22m
- Start date
Turtwig seems to take some inspiration from a snapping turtle (they have similar face designs with the pointed 'beaks').
But anyway, there's no knowing what it was 100% based off of, for all we know the designer may have just drawn inspiration from testudines as a whole rather than a specific genus.
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As has already been touched upon, most Pokemon quite rarely take inspiration from one creature, I agree that Turtwig - having legs - is of course based on a tortoise, however, that's not to say turtles - as His Goominess said above - didn't play some part in his design.
Beedrill, although named after a bee, looks much, much more like a Giant Hornet, yet you can't say that anyone who refers to him as a bee is stupid. Bees/Wasps/Hornets all clearly had some say in his design.
Torchic and Piplup are both based on birds. Different birds, but both are birds nonetheless. A casual observer (eg someone who does not care much for biology) might just not care enough about the differences between turtoises and turtles to see them as more different between each other than a pair like Houndoom and Granbull. Both turtles and tortoises have shells. Both are reptiles. The two species look very similar. And guess what? For children (or again, people like me who don't care much for biology) they're more than related enough for people to draw paralels between them. And in my case, I also want a Fire starter based on a Testudine to go with them.
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Guys, let's not throw insults around. If you see one member disrespecting another, don't reply to them, instead use the Report button to bring it to our attention.
Thank you
Thank you
You can't be serious. Do you mean that someone actually insulted someone else for a disagreement on whether Turtwig is a turtle or not?
Goodness; this is unreal. If you're going to make a mountain out of a molehill, at least keep it courteous.
Goodness; this is unreal. If you're going to make a mountain out of a molehill, at least keep it courteous.
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The differences between bird species is bigger than the differences between tortoises and turtles. Also, dogs are breeds and not different species. It's like saying Seagulls and Chickens are the same, despite the fact that ones is more aquatic and the other is bred for meat.
I would prefer either the Snake, horse or the tiger. Snake could be fire/poison XD
I actually really like the idea of a Fire/Poison snake for a starter. Just as long as the secondary typing for the fire starter isn't fighting again!
And I like the idea of Fire/Poison itself perfect. Not even for the starter, but in general already.
I mean.. those 2 types together seem like a typical combination we would have seen like 5 times by now, as common as Water/Ground or something.
And then probably in the hands of the villains to spice up their neverending poison-dark focus... heck Team Flare would have been a perfect match last generation.
But we have no Fire/Poison despite having like 6 Bug/Steel-lines? I find this more mindblowing than the fact that there is no Bug/Dark yet.
I mean.. those 2 types together seem like a typical combination we would have seen like 5 times by now, as common as Water/Ground or something.
And then probably in the hands of the villains to spice up their neverending poison-dark focus... heck Team Flare would have been a perfect match last generation.
But we have no Fire/Poison despite having like 6 Bug/Steel-lines? I find this more mindblowing than the fact that there is no Bug/Dark yet.
Snake itself is an intriguing animal. Since Arbok is covering the Cobra line, wonder what other snake could represent as fire.poison type. Any snake lover here perhaps could give us some insights?
Fire: Tiger or Snake, Fire/Poison (Snake) or a Fire / Electric (Tiger). It would be great also Fire/Fairy pegasus.
Water: Dolphiiiin!!! Water, Water/Psychic or Water/Ice.
Grass: Rabbit (one carrot rabbit <3), or a bird.
Grass, Grass/Fight, Grass/Earth, Grass/Fairy or Grass/Flying.
Water: Dolphiiiin!!! Water, Water/Psychic or Water/Ice.
Grass: Rabbit (one carrot rabbit <3), or a bird.
Grass, Grass/Fight, Grass/Earth, Grass/Fairy or Grass/Flying.
I believe I posted somewhere in the forums before that the starters will most likely be a Rabbit, Deer, or Early Bird/Terror Bird for Grass-type, Tiger, Lamb, Dog, or Horse for Fire-type, and really any amphibious animal you can think of as a possibility for Water-type.
You see, there's a trend with the starters. Evolution of life, Chinese Zodiac, and Amphibious (not just amphibians, which are all amphibious).
Don Pa-- err.. Poppa Ro-- errr.... McFayden was pretty accurate judging from my studies of the starters. Well, aside from dolphins unless it's some beached whale thing.
You see, there's a trend with the starters. Evolution of life, Chinese Zodiac, and Amphibious (not just amphibians, which are all amphibious).
Don Pa-- err.. Poppa Ro-- errr.... McFayden was pretty accurate judging from my studies of the starters. Well, aside from dolphins unless it's some beached whale thing.
I have heard the "evolution of life" thing being associated with the grass starters, but fail a bit too see where exactly that aspect appears in Bulbasaur, Chikorita Treecko, Turtwig or Chespin. It's really just Snivy losing its arms/legs as it becomes Serperior. And even so...yes it loses it's legs...Charmander grows wings, so what?
I think the whole 'evolution of life' thing is more about the Grass starters seemingly being based on prehistoric animals. (although I do fail to see how Turtwig [and Chespin to an extent] adhere to this theory, since neither of them seem to really be mainly based on prehistoric animals) Even though I do like this theory, it does feel a bit shaky.
I'd love to see a Grass type terror bird irregardless of whether this theory is true or not. A water type crustacean could be done well (although admittedly they would probably have to do something to make it different from the already existing water type crustaceans)
Another couple things that could make interesting Grass starters would be lemurs or flying squirrels.
Turtwig and it's evolutions represent turtles and, more specifically, ankylosaurs which came after dilophosaurs like Sceptile. Chespin and it's evolutions represent early mammals and, again more specifically, shrews and armadillos, which were some of the earliest developed mammals and genuses or our families (forget which is which) that appeared after the mass extinction.
As I've stated before in this thread in regards to the Fire Starters supposed trend, all trends that you can see with the starter Pokemon are purely coincidental. Considering that half of the fire starters don't actually follow the Chinese Zodiac in appearance or theme, the other starter types (Grass and Water) don't follow any trends as well.
You can imagine trends all you want, but no theme that has been stated by fans has been able to be applied to all released starter Pokemon. People can continue to move the goal post and restate the theory in a way that would allow for the many exceptions to the "rule", but when the exceptions to the rule become the norm, there is just something wrong with the rule.
That being said, and to know contribute to the thread, I want a Grass Wolf starter. Not really interested in what the fire or water starters will be since I always do Grass for my first playt hrough.
How do the starters not follow the trends?
There's literally nothing that supports this. Sceptile does not look like a dilophosaur. Torterra does onlty look very remotely like an ankylosaurus (it lacks the famous flail most often associated with them) and Chespin does look like a hedgehog to me, not like an early mammal.
Snivy is a legless lizard...
Neither the "origin of life" nor the "prehistoric animal" works beyond Gen 4 with the grass starters.
For the Fire starters:
-Cyndaquil seems to be based on the echidna, not a rat
-Fennekin is a fox
And even if they were based on the zodiac, you'd expect to see a clear rat origin and dog origin rather than having those two.
Grass has been explained well enough by Orphalesoin (although I do have to say that I don't agree with the point about Sceptile not looking like a dilophosaur since it does look like it may have had some design inspiration from one)
The only one which holds any kind of merit is the Water starters being based on animals which are able to live both in water and on land, which I presume has some kind of influence by the anime, since they need ones which can go on land rather than being fully aquatic. (I can't think of a time we've seen a fully aquatic Pokemon in the anime without being in a body of water)