A Certain Artblog

sweatonthelawn:

Whoa guys. Whoa. Break it down, Chris Sims:

“And finally, we have our champion, the brand new title-holder for Most Disturbing Pokemon of All Time. Sure, he doesn’t look like much — a little like Phanto from Super Mario Bros. 2 who’s had a few drinks and wants to get in a fistfight — but wait. Just. Wait.

These Pokémon arose from the spirits of people interred in graves in past ages. Each retains memories of its former life. Each of them carries a mask that used to be its face when it was human. Sometimes they look at it and cry.

All right, let’s do this by the numbers.

First, the idea that Pokemon used to be people. This puts a whole new spin on the very idea of this game, in that you’re running around bottling up the souls of the dead and releasing them to battle your enemies. Ye cats, those televangelists back in the ’90s were right all along!

Second, they retain the memories of their lives. “I used to have a wife. Kids. I spend a lot of time thinking about them, wondering if they miss me. But sure, kid, I’ll go punch that lightning squirrel for you. Not like I got much of a choice.” This is basically Dante’s conception of Hell.

Third, each of them carries a mask that used to be its face. Straight up creepy.

Fourth and final, sometimes they look at it and cry. That. Is. Amazing.

Cubone cries because it misses its mother. That’s just understandable. Yamask, however, cries from the sheer existential horror of what it has become while looking at the face it once wore as a human being before it was reduced to its current state, just breaking down under the sheer weight and indignity of all. Oh, and then it evolves into a sentient sarcophagus that kills grave robbers.

I haven’t beaten the game yet so I haven’t seen the credits, but I am pretty sure these characters were designed by Franz Kafka.”

via Comics Alliance.