PokéNatomy: An Unofficial Guide

by Christopher Stoll (Illustrator)

PokéNatomy is an unofficial anatomical art project, re-imagining Pokémon through the lens of modern biology. Now, for the first time ever, you can get the incredible scientific world of Pokémon in print in a high-quality, fully illustrated, unofficial guidebook, designed to help people of all ages understand the power that's inside!
This Kickstarter-Exclusive 8”x10” book is over 300 pages long and contains all of the original 150 Pokémon, with full page anatomical illustrations for each Pokémon as well as detailed descriptions of their biology, behavior, and abilities.

Genres: Fiction, Art, Fantasy, Video Games

308 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some typos but overall a thoroughly enjoyable look at Pokemon in a more scientific light.

Favorite/Most interesting evolutionary chains: Bulbasaur, Magnemite, Voltorb, and my husband's favorite was Scyther.

Least favorite: while I found it quite intriguing, I also found Chansy to be gross...just gross. I took my poor little Chansey Sitting Cutie plush and ALMOST...almost...gave it to my dog after that. LOL Those things you think are ears? Not ears...

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
Author and illustrator Stoll really did his research on all things zoological, biological, chemical, and biomechanical here! I love how he compares Pigeot's hunting to "perch-hunting", which real world hawks use. Other interesting elements are how most dragon-like pokémon find buoyancy in the air (hydrogen reserves, which reminds me of The Flight of Dragons), the sentience of bacterial colonies, symbiotic relationships, pokémon becoming merged with armor technology, and even computer viruses become self aware. It's very cool to see how these pocket monsters could biologically survive. I wouldn't mind seeing generation 2 now.
***
On the Con side:
Not to take anything away from an interesting encyclopedia (or is it a Poképedia), but there are clashing details in some entries. So not to deter from the awesome art and research, and certainly not to steal anyone's dog (funny copyright rules). Some Pokémon are said to be one diet in the key facts, but then are described as eating other things. Example: Is Poliwhirl omnivorous or carnivorous? (Same confused diets for Golem, Onyx, and Goldeen). Some spelling issues (omnivorous pops up as omniverous at times), and also Pinsir's behavior description seems to stop abruptly in mid-sentence. Just things to look back at and assess.

[Mike S.]

A fully realized thought experiment with wonderful, reality based explanations for the many sizes, shapes, and magical powers possessed by the original 151 Pokemon.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The content is generally good as the author explores a vast array of biological concepts that are nicely applied to each monster. Some make sense, and some don't but everything should be taken lightly anyway as this is not canon and absolutely fictional. Some Pokemon entries were interesting (ie the Gastly line) and some were disturbing (ie Chansey's). A lot were just meh and a drag to read but needless to say, I applaud all the effort given for this project.

I get that this is a self-published book but there's an astounding amount of errors throughout (ie spelling errors & contradicting information) that it gets distracting sometimes.

[Melissa Lenore Hamann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very well done. The illustrations are second to none and the information on the anatomy of the Pokémon is very engaging and interesting, positing some very unique theories on what makes these guys tick. My 8 year old really enjoyed looking at it as well, and the whole family has had many interesting discussions, thanks to this book. We are eagerly awaiting further editions that take is into other regions of Pokémon.

[Namun Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is great, but the book would have benefited from better editing. There are numerous typos, and several instances where the text in the paragraphs would contradict the text in the little statistics boxes. Also would have benefited by talking a little more with their biology consultants when trying to give a “scientific” description of Pokémon - nearly every blood vessel gets called “aortic arches” and there are some labels on some anatomy diagrams that just don’t make sense

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very cool and interesting concept, but sadly not executed as well as it could have been. It really needed another edit, and its information often contradicted established Pokemon lore, real-world biology, and its own newly-created "facts". A cool book to have and show off, but not as good a read as it appears.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes through all Kantonian Pokémon through the lens of a biologist, dissecting them to see all their squishy insides. It's a neat idea and you can really get a good sense of their biological inspirations. It's too bad this isn't canonical.

[Danni Lynn (WritingDaydreams2Reality) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my new favorite photo of a book! 😍

Pokénatomy: An Unofficial Guide by Christopher Stoll is a fun read full of great drawings of Pokémon anatomy. My BF is in his 4th year of med school AND is a huge Pokémon fan so this was really fun for the both of us.

[Firas Amayreh · Rating 5 out of 5]

uil

[Dustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely ingenious. Well done. Some scientific inconsistencies and issues but overall fantastic. I can’t wait to show my future kids this.

[Michael Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

[Rix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing can prepare you for Chansey....

But this is a very well thought out look at some Pokemon anatomy. Obviously most of it far from plausible but all grounded in the plausible, which is fun.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love these kinds of fantasy guides and textbooks! an interesting concept.