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The Secret Mythology of Pokémon: Pokémon Origins and Legends from Generation I and II
Attention A second edition of this book has been released with updated and improved content. It also includes information about a wider range of Pokémon not featured in this first edition - B0C1V1YDT9.Have you ever wondered about the origins of each Pokémon species?Written by a college researcher on Classics and Comparative Mythology (and fan of the original games), this completely unofficial book finally reveals the Pokémon legends and origins behind the first 251 creatures from the famous japanese series. It also contains some occasional jokes, many pieces of trivia you likely never heard before, and even a special chapter on all of those almost-forgotten creatures that never made it into the final games.Whether you played the older games or the more recent Pokemon Go, by reading this book you will finally understand why Charmander has a fiery tail, the true reason behind Magikarp's astonishing evolution, where Pikachu's real name comes from, what is happening to Flaafy's wool, what's the dark secret behind Wobbuffet's and Girafarig's strange tails, and why Teddiursa has a crescent in its forehead, among many, many other such curiosities!
93 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 27, 2022
21 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 31, 2022
While I greatly appreciate the goal of the book, there are unfortunately a number of shortcomings:
Many interesting origin stories aren’t included in the pokemon’s entry for this book. I’ve briefly thrown together a few below that weren’t addressed properly:
-The near certain swap of Butterfree and Venomoth
-Gengar being the doppelgänger of Clefable
-The author claimed they couldn’t find an insect inspiration for Scyther, but Scyther is very clearly based on a praying mantis
-Jynx wasn’t handled well. It’s original depiction with a truly black face and oversized lips indisputably is based in blackface. While it may not have as many negative connotations in Japan or other countries outside the US, it has deep, deep roots in racism in the US, and TPC had little choice but to change it for the English games.
-Feraligatr and Tyranitar are both Godzilla references, the first the US Godzilla movie from the 90s, the second a traditional Japanese depiction.
-Some missed things with names. Lapis for Lapras, being one, and calling Yanma a firefly (and not a dragonfly) was also something odd.
There was also the idea that TPC introduced new evolutions and babies in order to get “all species to three forms”…which I have not seen supported anywhere. In reality they simply wanted to capitalize on popular Pokémon and expand on some that had potential. Not to mention many 1 and 2 species families were added in gen 2 also.
Generally there were also just too many personal opinions and it was written too casually for something that is presented as a reference book. It may be a useful collection of origin information so you don’t need bulbapedia, but I think there is room for improvement for both content and grammar/spelling/editing
Many interesting origin stories aren’t included in the pokemon’s entry for this book. I’ve briefly thrown together a few below that weren’t addressed properly:
-The near certain swap of Butterfree and Venomoth
-Gengar being the doppelgänger of Clefable
-The author claimed they couldn’t find an insect inspiration for Scyther, but Scyther is very clearly based on a praying mantis
-Jynx wasn’t handled well. It’s original depiction with a truly black face and oversized lips indisputably is based in blackface. While it may not have as many negative connotations in Japan or other countries outside the US, it has deep, deep roots in racism in the US, and TPC had little choice but to change it for the English games.
-Feraligatr and Tyranitar are both Godzilla references, the first the US Godzilla movie from the 90s, the second a traditional Japanese depiction.
-Some missed things with names. Lapis for Lapras, being one, and calling Yanma a firefly (and not a dragonfly) was also something odd.
There was also the idea that TPC introduced new evolutions and babies in order to get “all species to three forms”…which I have not seen supported anywhere. In reality they simply wanted to capitalize on popular Pokémon and expand on some that had potential. Not to mention many 1 and 2 species families were added in gen 2 also.
Generally there were also just too many personal opinions and it was written too casually for something that is presented as a reference book. It may be a useful collection of origin information so you don’t need bulbapedia, but I think there is room for improvement for both content and grammar/spelling/editing
Displaying 1 of 1 review