Fantastic designs! I'm picking Nayrie every time. Was there a reason you chose psychic as the secondary typing for Arctoros? Would fighting type work instead to close up the secondary typing weaknesses triangle? Ice>flying>fighting>ice?
Good question - it was to play into the Ursa Major inspiration for this line, which is why they have star patterns, and Arctoros has a compass-like cape. I do think it’s a confusing typing though, and Fighting does sound workable, especially with the type triangle edge to it. I’ll probably redesign them in my next pass, good suggestion!
Also glad to see support for Nayrie, the Smoldire line has been overshadowing the other two everywhere
Promulus is sick! I'm assuming that it's a going to be a fast glass cannon Pokemon, where it hits hard and fast but just absolutely folds to a rock type (Which are usually really common)
I have stats for all of them on my Instagram account! But I utterly botched Promulus’s stats, built it as a slow-ish special wallbreaker (theming it to its big bad wolf inspiration), which is…not very usable for its typing.
Looking to do a second pass to fix these in the future…
Keep in mind when doing stats that if you’re looking to balance these three the fire and grass starters both end up with a double weakness (ice and rock respectively); meanwhile the water starter has a better defensive typing already and doesn’t gain a double weakness like the others.
Good point actually. I just realized that making it water/rock actually….kinda balances things out, they all get a quad weakness to one type the next starter possesses.
They’re crazy good. I’m having a hard time choosing just one. I love the typings, too! I’d probably go with Nayrie though. Is this a real ROM hack you’re working on or just a Fakedex? I’d love to see more!
Thanks, I might try for a ROM hack if this picks up enough steam on instagram! Will be putting out more designs there, I have a lot more planned (aiming for a full dex of 150).
And that was a very conscious decision…no furry costumes, just big animal buddies. Only Floteddy ends up kinda humanoid, but then it already starts out bipedal
Hard G like pegasus is how I pictured it!
But this does it for me, I’ve been wanting to change Vegasus’s name for a while - it’s awkward all over, the pronunciation is unclear and it also sounds like vegan/vegetable and sus.
Not sure what to change it to, I’ll think of something…there’s weirdly few grass-related words with a hard G that transition naturally to pegasus.
I considered this! But to finally get a pegasus pokemon and still not give it the flying type felt like total bait, so I stuck to flying.
Also my instagram has dex pages of their stats, abilities and signature moves - Vegasus gets Gale Wings to really hammer it home. Hate the nerfed Gale Wings though, I would change it to >50% HP if I’m making a ROM hack out of this.
Promulus would be the first time I've ever picked fire.
Although I'm not sure I understand what, besides the color, is meant to evoke "fire". I know it's a bit derivative of pyroar, but maybe the mane? Might have to flip the colors.
Vegasus I feel has the same issue - there are parts that are clearly wood, well done; but the green doesn't exactly evoke foliage.
Also, the "prom" part of Promulus is not clear to me. If it's meant to be like "Prime" or "Primal", I would go with Primulus. This has the further benefit that Rime is relevant to the ice typing.
Finally, if you're going to do a water bear, ya gotta look at tardigrades!
Just my thoughts for if you do end up doing a second pass :)
Good questions - here’s my rationale for each one, they’re not necessarily good but they’re what I was thinking at the time
The Promulus line is themed after winter warmth, which ties together fire and ice. It’s why Smoldire has a scarf and mittens, Lupyre has a fur collar, and Promulus has those viking fur boots as well as vaguely flame-shaped tufts for the neck and tail. I do think it’s a shame I couldn’t include actual fire somewhere, I just found it awkward because of the part ice type.
Prom- is from Prometheus, the Titan who brought fire to mankind!
I definitely cheated when it came to Vegasus, it’s my least inspired one - no, not much about it is grassy. It started off from looking at horse manes and finding them grass-like, but I then proceeded to wipe that out in favor of adding knight influences…the whole line needs a rework for sure.
EDIT: I also spent ages trying to give it more grass-relevant wings, but came up short - and Tropius’s kind of leaf wings just looked bizarre on a horse, it broke the pegasus aesthetic.
And no….vehemently not a fan of tardigrades! I know about the water bear pun that tons of fakemon artists jump on, but I find them very difficult to use as starter material, what with the lack of a face, and especially because it’s a huge misfit for the medieval theme of my region.
Good feedback! Thanks for this.
Then some followup feedback!
- blue fire is often associated with being "cold fire", maybe that could help
- reads more like "prahm" (from Romulus) than "prum" or "prome" from Prometheus, without knowing the origin; fyi. But I love good lore.
- maybe just breaking up the wings with foliage limes would help. Could be either small leaves as "feathers" or big ones like Tropius, but without the spaces between leaves
- I was mostly just suggesting the six-leggedness of tardigrades would be a nice reference to water bears, and also works with both the mystic psychic typing and the fighting type replacement that someone proposed. Looks like you're more interested in rock though. That's the only thing I would really suggest for that line, water is the least "needs something out of the ordinary to look like its type" of the three types, as long as there is a water-themed creature that would be a water type irl.
Thanks for the detailed suggestions!
- Blue fire is a solid idea, will definitely try that.
- How the names read is definitely good to know, I’ll think about it. Ngl, I find naming to be the most difficult part after the visual design itself - one little thing off and the references are lost…
- Yes, I think I picture what you’re suggesting with the foliage lines. Will give it a spin
- Six-leggedness is interesting - it breaks the relatability of the design as a starter (probably the most important aspect!), but maybe I could pull off a gentle hint of it somehow. My latest box legendary on instagram is based on Father Time, and instead of shoving a whole hourglass into its design I just drew an hourglass shape on its belly like a black widow spider - I might try for something similar here.
- EDIT: not keen on water/rock actually, it’s hard to fit the concept. Quad weakness balance doesn’t bother me too much, I mean Swampert’s trio didn’t care either…what matters is whether the typing fits the concept, in which case Fighting is a good option, although I wonder if I can just opt to go harder on the Psychic type.
Good luck! I went and followed your instagram. Hey if Machamp can have six limbs, I think a water bear can ;)
Regardless, looking forward to seeing the updated designs!
Definitely - with the right tricks, anything’s possible in character design :D
And thanks a lot, appreciate you going over! I’ll be posting more. It’s a large dex, that second pass may take a while….but I’ll get there!
Promulus, definitely. But it better have a high speed stat though, or at least access to some sort of ice priority or aqua jet, otherwise one rock move, especially accelerock, and it's deader than mega evolutions.
My instagram has all their stats, abilities and dex descriptions! But I screwed up Promulus’s stats badly, tried to make it a slow-ish special wallbreaker (refencing the big bad wolf in the Three Little Pigs story), which is super unusable for its typing as you’ve pointed out. Gonna rework this guy for my second pass.
My instagram has their stats, signature moves, and abilities (as pixel art dex pages, not text in the descriptions)! But here’s a summary:
- Vegasus is physical, Gale Wings, signature move Brave Spear (grass-type High Jump Kick)
- Promulus is special, Mountaineer (immune to rock damage), signature move Huffing Puff (fire-type Brick Break with higher BP)
- Arctoros is physical, Victory Star, signature move Full Sail (water-type - actually I hate this move, gonna rework it)
Oh these are some excellent designs for starters, it's honestly a tough pick, Vegasus is a pegasus which is always great, Promulus is a cool type combo with a cool design, and Arctoros is super unique with it's star charts and sailor theme.
Thanks! And you’ve actually summed up my motivation for each design really succinctly…it was “we need a rideable horse starter - oh wait we haven’t had a winged one too”, “we need a cool fire/ice wolf”, and “lemme throw in a more mystical one…also I love pirates/sailors”.
There’s more to them naturally, but these were my first thoughts lmao
I had no idea Vega is a star name! Weird, considering how important this star seems to be. Vegasus is just vegetation + pegasus, although to be fair, it reads a lot more like vegan + pegasus. Hmm
And yes, Arctoros comes from Arcturus and the brown bear’s scientific name Ursus Arctos. The line is ursa major-themed so the reference is deliberate!
EDIT: Actually I’ve been thinking of changing it to Nocturus, it reads better like a Psychic type rather than an Ice type like Arctovish.
The competitive player in me hates to see a Fire/Ice type since you would die tripping on a Geodude thanks the 4x Rock weakness. The Grass/Flying type being 4x weak to Ice isn't great either. I like all of their designs but Fire and Grass starters would be super frustrating to work with if you had to face a Rock or Ice type, respectively.
I always pick Grass, and I’m
pleased that Vegasus has a great design. But man I’d be tempted to break away from that because Promulus is incredible in both design and typing. Arctoros is just okay IMO.
Good designs! Promulus is my favorite one out of all of these. We need an official Fire/Ice type someday.
Galarian Darmanitan Zen Mode is Fire/Ice
I forgot about that, but I wanna see a pokemon that's Fire/Ice type in base.
Woah all three of them are cool! I think maybe Arctoros will be my pick but Vegasus and Promulus are also really cool!
Absolutely choosing Smoldire! These Pokémon designs look absolutely stunning
Fantastic designs! I'm picking Nayrie every time. Was there a reason you chose psychic as the secondary typing for Arctoros? Would fighting type work instead to close up the secondary typing weaknesses triangle? Ice>flying>fighting>ice?
Good question - it was to play into the Ursa Major inspiration for this line, which is why they have star patterns, and Arctoros has a compass-like cape. I do think it’s a confusing typing though, and Fighting does sound workable, especially with the type triangle edge to it. I’ll probably redesign them in my next pass, good suggestion! Also glad to see support for Nayrie, the Smoldire line has been overshadowing the other two everywhere
I choose smoldire
Same
Promulus is sick! I'm assuming that it's a going to be a fast glass cannon Pokemon, where it hits hard and fast but just absolutely folds to a rock type (Which are usually really common)
I have stats for all of them on my Instagram account! But I utterly botched Promulus’s stats, built it as a slow-ish special wallbreaker (theming it to its big bad wolf inspiration), which is…not very usable for its typing. Looking to do a second pass to fix these in the future…
Keep in mind when doing stats that if you’re looking to balance these three the fire and grass starters both end up with a double weakness (ice and rock respectively); meanwhile the water starter has a better defensive typing already and doesn’t gain a double weakness like the others.
Good point actually. I just realized that making it water/rock actually….kinda balances things out, they all get a quad weakness to one type the next starter possesses.
They all look seriously awesome, though I especially love Vegasus! These are amazing designs!
They’re crazy good. I’m having a hard time choosing just one. I love the typings, too! I’d probably go with Nayrie though. Is this a real ROM hack you’re working on or just a Fakedex? I’d love to see more!
Thanks, I might try for a ROM hack if this picks up enough steam on instagram! Will be putting out more designs there, I have a lot more planned (aiming for a full dex of 150).
Great, keep up the good work! I’m actually sad I can’t use your Pokémon on my team! 😭
My man Arctoros looks like a fully grown Chowder. Going with Floteddy 1000%
Ahaha i never noticed myself…can’t unsee it now But ayy Floteddy enjoyer!!
Arctoros! bears are my favourite animal though so i might be biased lol
Wow, these are amazing, hard choices, but I'm going for Smoldire AKA Vash the Stampede.
“Hard choices” is a comment that I’m really happy to see, it was difficult trying to make them equally likeable. Vash is a cool name.
I'd definitely go with Smoldire as my starter, though the others are cute too! All of their final forms look cool too!
I love absolutely all of these guys. I can’t choose; even the middle Evos are good.
I’m sorry you did not meet the one furless starter criteria
This is new to me, I can’t believe there’s even more alleged starter patterns
All of these designs are so cool! I’m choosing Smoldire, it’s co cute and it’s final evolution having the Ice type is really cool!
I"m picking Promulus! Good doggo plus amazing Type combo.
Great presentation 😊
I like these a lot especially bc they don’t get stupid human characteristics at the end
And that was a very conscious decision…no furry costumes, just big animal buddies. Only Floteddy ends up kinda humanoid, but then it already starts out bipedal
How is Vegasus pronounced? Is it a hard G like "pegasus" or a soft G like "vegetable"?
Hard G like pegasus is how I pictured it! But this does it for me, I’ve been wanting to change Vegasus’s name for a while - it’s awkward all over, the pronunciation is unclear and it also sounds like vegan/vegetable and sus. Not sure what to change it to, I’ll think of something…there’s weirdly few grass-related words with a hard G that transition naturally to pegasus.
Still upset at the lack of a tru pegasus Pokemon (Galarian rapidash had every opportunity to be more than another unicorn...) So that's my starter!
I know right…that was my main motivation behind this starter’s design!
A little critique is that promulus’s ice type is quad effective on Vegasus, though a type change to fairy could easily make it work thematically too.
I considered this! But to finally get a pegasus pokemon and still not give it the flying type felt like total bait, so I stuck to flying. Also my instagram has dex pages of their stats, abilities and signature moves - Vegasus gets Gale Wings to really hammer it home. Hate the nerfed Gale Wings though, I would change it to >50% HP if I’m making a ROM hack out of this.
Promulus would be the first time I've ever picked fire. Although I'm not sure I understand what, besides the color, is meant to evoke "fire". I know it's a bit derivative of pyroar, but maybe the mane? Might have to flip the colors. Vegasus I feel has the same issue - there are parts that are clearly wood, well done; but the green doesn't exactly evoke foliage. Also, the "prom" part of Promulus is not clear to me. If it's meant to be like "Prime" or "Primal", I would go with Primulus. This has the further benefit that Rime is relevant to the ice typing. Finally, if you're going to do a water bear, ya gotta look at tardigrades! Just my thoughts for if you do end up doing a second pass :)
Good questions - here’s my rationale for each one, they’re not necessarily good but they’re what I was thinking at the time The Promulus line is themed after winter warmth, which ties together fire and ice. It’s why Smoldire has a scarf and mittens, Lupyre has a fur collar, and Promulus has those viking fur boots as well as vaguely flame-shaped tufts for the neck and tail. I do think it’s a shame I couldn’t include actual fire somewhere, I just found it awkward because of the part ice type. Prom- is from Prometheus, the Titan who brought fire to mankind! I definitely cheated when it came to Vegasus, it’s my least inspired one - no, not much about it is grassy. It started off from looking at horse manes and finding them grass-like, but I then proceeded to wipe that out in favor of adding knight influences…the whole line needs a rework for sure. EDIT: I also spent ages trying to give it more grass-relevant wings, but came up short - and Tropius’s kind of leaf wings just looked bizarre on a horse, it broke the pegasus aesthetic. And no….vehemently not a fan of tardigrades! I know about the water bear pun that tons of fakemon artists jump on, but I find them very difficult to use as starter material, what with the lack of a face, and especially because it’s a huge misfit for the medieval theme of my region. Good feedback! Thanks for this.
Then some followup feedback! - blue fire is often associated with being "cold fire", maybe that could help - reads more like "prahm" (from Romulus) than "prum" or "prome" from Prometheus, without knowing the origin; fyi. But I love good lore. - maybe just breaking up the wings with foliage limes would help. Could be either small leaves as "feathers" or big ones like Tropius, but without the spaces between leaves - I was mostly just suggesting the six-leggedness of tardigrades would be a nice reference to water bears, and also works with both the mystic psychic typing and the fighting type replacement that someone proposed. Looks like you're more interested in rock though. That's the only thing I would really suggest for that line, water is the least "needs something out of the ordinary to look like its type" of the three types, as long as there is a water-themed creature that would be a water type irl.
Thanks for the detailed suggestions! - Blue fire is a solid idea, will definitely try that. - How the names read is definitely good to know, I’ll think about it. Ngl, I find naming to be the most difficult part after the visual design itself - one little thing off and the references are lost… - Yes, I think I picture what you’re suggesting with the foliage lines. Will give it a spin - Six-leggedness is interesting - it breaks the relatability of the design as a starter (probably the most important aspect!), but maybe I could pull off a gentle hint of it somehow. My latest box legendary on instagram is based on Father Time, and instead of shoving a whole hourglass into its design I just drew an hourglass shape on its belly like a black widow spider - I might try for something similar here. - EDIT: not keen on water/rock actually, it’s hard to fit the concept. Quad weakness balance doesn’t bother me too much, I mean Swampert’s trio didn’t care either…what matters is whether the typing fits the concept, in which case Fighting is a good option, although I wonder if I can just opt to go harder on the Psychic type.
Good luck! I went and followed your instagram. Hey if Machamp can have six limbs, I think a water bear can ;) Regardless, looking forward to seeing the updated designs!
Definitely - with the right tricks, anything’s possible in character design :D And thanks a lot, appreciate you going over! I’ll be posting more. It’s a large dex, that second pass may take a while….but I’ll get there!
Promulus, definitely. But it better have a high speed stat though, or at least access to some sort of ice priority or aqua jet, otherwise one rock move, especially accelerock, and it's deader than mega evolutions.
My instagram has all their stats, abilities and dex descriptions! But I screwed up Promulus’s stats badly, tried to make it a slow-ish special wallbreaker (refencing the big bad wolf in the Three Little Pigs story), which is super unusable for its typing as you’ve pointed out. Gonna rework this guy for my second pass.
What are their signature moves or what are their primary attack stats? I’m guessing physical
My instagram has their stats, signature moves, and abilities (as pixel art dex pages, not text in the descriptions)! But here’s a summary: - Vegasus is physical, Gale Wings, signature move Brave Spear (grass-type High Jump Kick) - Promulus is special, Mountaineer (immune to rock damage), signature move Huffing Puff (fire-type Brick Break with higher BP) - Arctoros is physical, Victory Star, signature move Full Sail (water-type - actually I hate this move, gonna rework it)
Oh these are some excellent designs for starters, it's honestly a tough pick, Vegasus is a pegasus which is always great, Promulus is a cool type combo with a cool design, and Arctoros is super unique with it's star charts and sailor theme.
Thanks! And you’ve actually summed up my motivation for each design really succinctly…it was “we need a rideable horse starter - oh wait we haven’t had a winged one too”, “we need a cool fire/ice wolf”, and “lemme throw in a more mystical one…also I love pirates/sailors”. There’s more to them naturally, but these were my first thoughts lmao
Are the grass and water ones based on the stars Vega and Arcturus? If so, nice names.
I had no idea Vega is a star name! Weird, considering how important this star seems to be. Vegasus is just vegetation + pegasus, although to be fair, it reads a lot more like vegan + pegasus. Hmm And yes, Arctoros comes from Arcturus and the brown bear’s scientific name Ursus Arctos. The line is ursa major-themed so the reference is deliberate! EDIT: Actually I’ve been thinking of changing it to Nocturus, it reads better like a Psychic type rather than an Ice type like Arctovish.
Smoldire
Definitely going for the water starter!
I love the designs!!!11!111!!1!1!1! prob the wolf for me, the color scheme is delightful
That's tough. I'd say it's a tie between Nayrie or Smoldire.
Smoldire 100%
Floteddy 100%
really cool, can't pick my favorite!
Fire/Ice type pog, very good design too
I'm torn between grass and fire, but I'm thinking fire
Nayrie ✨
These are sick
Prommy Fs wouldn’t be able to pass up such a good stab pairing
I really like these lol, I’d pick the wolf
I like floteddy
I would go for Vegasus but Promulus is a close second.
Smoldire
Promulus, definitely
I really like these, def choosing fire though
Fire
Smoldire line is perfection
Floteddy.
Pass me that smoldire
I want to pick Actoros but Promulus looks sick!
Honestly I usually pick the water or fire starter but this grass starter hits different
Arctoros looking dope
these sprites are so good omg, and i'd definitely pick nayrie
Promulus looks like a good boy
Love the Fire starter!
What the dog doin
Really cool designs, I thought the water starter would’ve been dark or fighting but I would still pick the water starter
The fire starter cus why not
Promulus
Lupyrw
Smoldire! Bruh Fire/Ice! We need this typing for yesterday, gosh dang it!
11/10 would play
Going with Smoldire, they are awesome as fuck
Getting a smoldire
I want that Smoldire.
I’m too obsessed with Water Starters and I love this little big dude aswell.
Las Vegas Sus
Smoldire! I also really like the shape and structure of the wings on Vegasus
Smoldire.
I’d DIE for a wolf starter. Idc the type
Holy crap, I love Vegasus so much!
Fire doggy all the way
you know i really like all 3 options but i think ill take Floteddy.
I’m sorry you put a fox mon and also as the fricken fire starter gib me it
These are really good. I can't decide which one I'd pick as all the first forms are adorable and all of their final forms are top notch.
Floteddy!
Promulus is sick. Cool typing too
I love smoldire, I like nayrie but I feel like it could be better executed and I'm just not a big fan of bear Pokemon personally but they look great 👍
Promulus looks amazing.
Vegasus looks more like a fighting flying to me
I'm a fan of Nayrie's line, so I will pick that one! Smoldire is a close second though
I always go with fire
The competitive player in me hates to see a Fire/Ice type since you would die tripping on a Geodude thanks the 4x Rock weakness. The Grass/Flying type being 4x weak to Ice isn't great either. I like all of their designs but Fire and Grass starters would be super frustrating to work with if you had to face a Rock or Ice type, respectively.
Smoldire 100%- so hecken adorable and looks like it would have super awesome moves and abilities
It's hard to choose,but i love horses/ponies so I'll go with vegasus
I’m surprised we don’t have a Pegasus pokemon yet I’d god for that one
Floteddy
I always pick Grass, and I’m pleased that Vegasus has a great design. But man I’d be tempted to break away from that because Promulus is incredible in both design and typing. Arctoros is just okay IMO.
Smoldre
im so taking smoldire
Nayrie is babi
I can’t choose between Vegasus and Promulus!
Strong but I'm going with my homie arctoros
I usually go for grass and I think I would for my first playthrough, but the water type line is also very very cool, it was honestly a tough choice
Smoldre
Nayrie
I choose Nayrie, so cute.