Fakemon Explained

Fakemon, also called Fakémon, are fan-designed fictional creatures based on the Pokémon franchise of monster-taming games.

While many such designs have been created purely as fan art, others are made specifically as hoaxes to fool fans into believing they will appear in future series titles.

History

Etymology

The word Fakemon is a portmanteau of the words fake and Pokémon. In Japanese, they are known as .[1]

Origin

According to GameRant, Fakemon have existed "for almost as long as Pokémon itself", but began to proliferate with the advent of fan-made video games[2] as well as the advent of the internet.

Founded in 1998, "Mewthree and Frogglet's Pokémon Factory" (later called Pokémon Factory) became the first website to formalize the creation of Fakemon.[3] A public forum, it required members to post their creation to other members, who would provide critique until its revisions deemed it "presentable for review by Pokémon Factory staff." The intent of the website was to create "an outlet for fan innovations in pokémon ."[4]

The popularity of the creatures has led to the creation of various online Fakemon image generators. For example, in 2022, Lambda Labs researcher Justin Pinkney created Text-to-Pokémon, which utilizes Stable Diffusion to create creatures based on a user's written prompt.[5] [6] [7] The model was trained on "BLIP captioned Pokémon images with two NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPUs on the Lambda GPU Cloud for around 15,000 steps."

As of 2022, Fakemon are popular on websites such as DeviantArt, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit,[8] as well as YouTube. Some Fakemon designers are professional artists in the video game industry.[9] Fakemon design has been described as "a way for fans to express their individuality while honoring the franchise they love."[10]

Design

Fakemon are designed by fans of the Pokémon franchise using design principles from the Pokémon video games and anime, such as color, level of detail, anatomy, and relatability.[11] [12] Fakemon designers have employed the use of Microsoft Paint and Photoshop to mimic the pixel art of the Pokémon video games. Fans design Fakemon based on real-world concepts such as culture, architecture, animals, plants,[13] and mythology.[14]

Fakemon are often created to accompany fan-made Pokémon regions or games;[15] [16] the fan game Pokémon Uranium has over 150 Fakemon featured in it,[17] while Pokémon Clover has over 300.[18]

Controversy

Fakemon designs have occasionally been so similar to the visual language of Pokémon that they have been confused for real leaks.[19]

For example, a set of three fake fire, water, and grass starter Pokémon were created by Leopoldo Spagna as a hoax in 2018, prior to the announcement of Pokémon Sword and Shield. Spagna's designs were featured on multiple websites as a legitimate rumor, leading fans to create fan art and memes of the supposed Pokémon. While he later apologized for the hoax, PokéNinja, a Twitch streamer, backed a special tier of the Kickstarter for Temtem, a game resembling Pokémon, putting forth one of the fake Pokémon, Platypet, as a monster design. Platypet was first included within the game when it released early access through Steam on January 21, 2020.[20] In the game's universe, Platypet stars in a cartoon about Toxic-elemental Temtem.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 『ポケモン剣盾』公式サイトがバグった!? ネットでは謎のポケモン予測祭り . KAI-YOU.net . 13 September 2019 . 9 November 2023.
  2. Web site: Galekovic . Filip . 2022-06-05 . Artist is Designing Starter Pokemon for Every US State . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220605170600/https://gamerant.com/artist-starter-pokemon-every-us-state/ . 2022-06-05 . 2023-10-24 . Game Rant . en.
  3. Web site: 2015-10-16 . Pokémon: The Unique Experience of Fan-Made Games . 2023-11-09 . the-artifice.com . en.
  4. Web site: The Pokémon Factory: It Starts With An Idea . 2023-11-09 . pokefactory.pokemology.com.
  5. Web site: Silberling . Amanda . 2022-09-28 . Make your very own AI-generated Pokémon-like creature . 2023-11-09 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  6. Web site: Turn Anything into Pokémon with This New AI Program . 2023-11-09 . Nerdist . en-US.
  7. Web site: Joseph . Foley . 2022-09-27 . This spot-on AI Pokémon generator has me hooked . 2023-11-09 . Creative Bloq . en.
  8. Web site: Shotwell . Alyssa . 2023-04-12 . Artist Creates Alarmingly Accurate Starter Pokémon for Each State . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230606190850/https://www.themarysue.com/artist-creates-alarmingly-accurate-starter-pokemon-for-each-state/ . 2023-06-06 . 2023-10-24 . The Mary Sue . en.
  9. Web site: Michael . Cale . 2022-11-17 . Can an official Pokémon not look like a Pokémon? Expert artist analysis details how it can happen . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20221117141539/https://dotesports.com/pokemon/news/can-an-official-pokemon-not-look-like-a-pokemon-expert-artist-analysis-details-how-it-can-happen . 2022-11-17 . 2023-10-24 . Dot Esports . en-US.
  10. Web site: Caballero . David . 2021-08-25 . 10 Fakemon That Look Like Real Pokémon . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230320013616/https://screenrant.com/pokemon-fakemon-that-look-real/ . 2023-03-20 . 2023-10-25 . ScreenRant . en.
  11. Web site: Gray . Kate . 2022-11-17 . Random: Fakemon Artist Details The Recipe For What Pokémon Should Look Like . 2023-10-25 . Nintendo Life . en-GB . 2023-01-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230130151145/https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/11/random-fakemon-artist-details-the-recipe-for-what-pokemon-should-look-like . live .
  12. Web site: Valentine . Rebekah . 2023-01-02 . 'Fakemon' Designer Explains What Makes a Pokémon a Pokémon . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231030165845/https://www.ign.com/articles/fakemon-designer-explains-what-makes-a-pokmon-a-pokmon . 2023-10-30 . 2023-10-24 . . en.
  13. Web site: Grosso . Robert . 2022-10-14 . Exploring the World of Fakemon . 2023-10-24 . TechRaptor . en . 2022-11-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221130112213/https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/exploring-world-of-fakemon . live .
  14. Web site: 2021-12-14 . Tikbalang, parols and carabao: Digital artist creates Filipino-inspired Pokémon that look as official as the real thing . 2023-10-25 . NextShark . Yahoo News . en-US . 2021-12-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211215040643/https://news.yahoo.com/tikbalang-parols-carabao-digital-artist-222034957.html . live . Michelle. De Pacina.
  15. Web site: Vu . Mai . 2022-04-17 . Pokémon: Why Fakemon Are So Popular . 2023-10-24 . ScreenRant . en . 2022-12-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221214192628/https://screenrant.com/pokemon-fakemon-designs-new-species-battles-popular-monsters/ . live .
  16. Web site: Warren . Martyn . 2022-05-16 . Pokémon: 10 Interesting Fakemon Projects . 2023-10-25 . ScreenRant . en . 2022-12-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221217184840/https://screenrant.com/pokemon-interesting-fakemon-projects/ . live .
  17. Web site: Fan-made Pokemon Uranium launches after 9 years of development. CNET. CBS Interactive. 2023-11-09. live. Daniel. Van Boom. 2016-08-12. https://archive.today/20160812115800/http://www.cnet.com/news/fan-made-pokemon-uranium-launches-after-9-years-of-development/. 2016-08-11. mdy-all.
  18. Web site: Baker . Ben . 2020-01-16 . The 15 Most Powerful Pokemon In The Clover Pokedex . 2023-10-25 . TheGamer . en . 2023-06-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230603103711/https://www.thegamer.com/pokemon-clover-most-powerful/ . live .
  19. Web site: Hernandez . Patricia . 2020-01-31 . The Pokémon hoax that found its way into Temtem . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230325221202/https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/31/21112855/temtem-pokemon-mmo-platypet-rumor-fakemon-pokeninja-design . 2023-03-25 . 2023-10-25 . Polygon . en-US.
  20. Web site: Gerblick . Jordan . 2019-12-06 . TemTem is a Pokemon-like MMO coming to Steam next month . 2023-11-09 . gamesradar . en.

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